“Donald Trump Faces Rape Charges in New York Civil Court”

Donald Trump was charged in New York civil court on Tuesday with raping a newspaper columnist in the mid-1990s, charges hotly contested by his lawyer, who portrayed the former journalist as a greedy storyteller for money and celebrity.

More than 25 years after the events, nine jurors, six men and three women, selected Tuesday before a federal court in Manhattan, will try to shed light on this case, where two diametrically opposed versions clash.

Witness to the sensitive nature of the trial, which should last five to ten days, Judge Lewis Kaplan guaranteed that the jurors will see their anonymity preserved, to avoid any pressure.

Since 2019, E. Jean Carroll and his lawyers claim that the former president of the United States “groped, groped and raped her” after luring her into the fitting room of a New York department store, Bergdorf Goodman, on a date which she no longer remembers but which dates back to “the spring of 1996”.

“The moment they were inside (the cabin), everything changed. Suddenly, nothing was funny anymore”, launched one of the plaintiff’s lawyers, Shawn Crowley, at the opening of the debates.

“Twice Its Size”

“Trump was almost twice his size,” she added.

The lawyer explained that the columnist had kept silent for 20 years, for fear of having her reputation destroyed by a powerful man. But in the wake of the #metoo movement, the one who wrote in Elle magazine in the United States had decided to speak in a book in 2019.

Two friends, to whom E. Jean Carroll had confided shortly after the facts, will come to corroborate his account at the bar, promised Shawn Crowley.

Donald Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, blasted “an affront to justice”.

“She abuses the system for money, for political reasons and for her status,” he continued, in front of E. Jean Carroll, 79, who stared at him.

But, aware that the figure of Donald Trump, absent at the opening of the proceedings, and probably throughout the trial, could cause rejection in New York, he took care to throw to the jurors: “You can hate Donald Trump, c is OK (…) But not here, in a court”.

The jury will have to determine the amount of reparations to possibly be awarded to the writer.

At 76, the former tenant of the White House (2017-2021) dreams of being re-elected in November 2024, but he sees the legal cases piling up.

In early April, in unprecedented history for a former US president, he was charged with criminal charges in New York for 34 accounting and tax frauds related to payments to cover up embarrassing affairs before the 2016 presidential election, including a sexual relationship with the porn actress Stormy Daniels that he has always denied.

“Not His Kind”

E. Jean Carroll first filed a defamation suit against the 2019 President of the United States because he called her accusations a “complete lie”, adding that she was “not his type”. .

His lawyers had claimed that he was protected, in 2019, by his immunity as head of state.

But in November 2022, a New York State law came into force (“Adult Survivors Act”) allowing, for one year, victims of sexual assault to relaunch their civil legal action, even if the facts were criminally prescribed.

E. Jean Carroll then filed a new civil complaint for “defamation” but also “assault” and “assault”. Judge Lewis Kaplan recalled that Donald Trump was not criminally prosecuted for rape, but that the “aggression” could be characterized by “unjustified touching without the consent of the person concerned”.

During a testimony during the procedure, Donald Trump had reaffirmed his line of defense: “I will say it with the greatest respect: first she is not my type; second, it never happened”.

But, in front of a photo where he appeared with E. Jean Carroll at a reception years before the facts, Mr. Trump had confused his accuser with … his former wife, actress Marla Maples, to whom he was married from 1993 to 1999. The Republican billionaire has been accused of sexual assault by other women on several occasions in the past, which he has always denied.