After a landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses, former President Donald Trump sat in a New York courtroom on Tuesday to face libel charges from writer E Jean Carroll after she accused him of sexual assault several decades ago.
Mr. Trump looked on from the defendant’s table as Ms. Carroll’s lawyer told a jury that former President Trump made her life difficult in 2019 after she went public with her story of being sexually assaulted in a Manhattan department store dressing room. .
“He used the biggest microphone in the world to attack Ms. Carroll, to denigrate and damage her reputation,” said attorney Shawn Crowley.
E. Jean Carroll
Carroll, 80, is seeking at least $10 million in damages in the lawsuit, which brings attention to the sexual assault allegations as Mr. Trump campaigns to secure the Republican Party’s nomination as its presidential nominee in November. .
The jury will consider only the amount of damages Mr. Trump should award Ms. Carroll, not the veracity of the sexual assault allegation and whether Mr. Trump was found guilty of the allegation.
Lawyer Crowley said Mr Trump’s “appalling” lies sparked a wave of abuse from his followers and threatened Ms Carroll’s safety.
“While Mr. Trump is campaigning for president, he continues to root for Ms. Carroll,” attorney Crowley said.
Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, countered that Carroll “has benefited from being in the national spotlight” in the years since she went public with her story and accused Mr. Trump of sexual assault.
“She is seeking huge damages simply because some people on social media have said bad things about her,” said lawyer Habba.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump, 77, has said he wants to testify in this trial.
Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan has barred Mr. Trump from speaking publicly on the issues that he did not defame or sexually assault Ms. Carroll or that she fabricated her story.
However, Mr Trump accused Ms Carroll on social media of lying as court proceedings began on Tuesday morning.
Shortly after the court session ended, Mr. Trump accused Judge Kaplan of political bias against him, echoing his complaints about judges in other US government cases against him.
Former President Trump could spend more than a year shuttling between courtrooms and the campaign trail as he tries to secure the Republican Party’s nomination as its nominee in November’s presidential election.
He won Iowa’s primary on Monday by a wide margin, and polls show him leading in the runoff race in New Hampshire, a week before the state’s primary.
“I should be in New Hampshire campaigning and fighting for our country, which I will do later, but now I’m forced to spend time in a federal court with a judge with radical leftist views, who hates Mr. Trump”, former President Trump wrote on the social network “Truth Social” after the end of the court session.
Former President Trump has pleaded not guilty to four other criminal cases that could land him in prison before the November presidential election, including two counts of trying to sway the outcome of the 2020 election, which he won. his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
Judge Kaplan said he expects former President Trump’s defamation trial to last three to five days.