'I'm here because Donald Trump raped me,' US writer testifies before jury in lawsuit trial

By Team Newsable | First Published Apr 27, 2023, 5:05 PM IST

Writer E Jean Carroll told the jury on Wednesday that Donald Trump raped her nearly 30 years ago and when she wrote about it, he lied. "I'm here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he lied and said it didn't happen," E Jean Carroll told jurors in federal court in Manhattan

A writer told a US civil trial that an alleged sexual assault by Donald Trump three decades ago left her feeling “ashamed" and unable to have romantic relationships. “I’m here because Donald Trump raped me," E. Jean Carroll said in Manhattan’s federal court, which was hearing a defamation and battery lawsuit against the former president.

The 76-year-old Republican is up against a number of legal issues as he pursues a run for the White House. The case is only one of them.

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Carroll, a 79-year-old former advice writer for Elle magazine, is suing Trump, 76, for undisclosed damages. Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president in the 2024 election.

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Her lawsuit concerns an alleged encounter in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in late 1995 or early 1996, where she says Trump raped her before she could flee.

Donald Trump, according to Carroll, defamed her by branding her rape allegation a fake, lie, and "complete con job" on his Truth Social media platform. He also said she was not his "type" and had made up the incident to sell her novel.

She is also suing under the Adult Survivors Act of New York, which permits individuals to file lawsuits against accused abusers years after the statute of limitations has passed.

In her testimony before the jury, the former Elle magazine editor detailed how a fortuitous encounter with Trump in the Manhattan store soon descended into violence.

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“All his weight (was) against my chest. He pulled down my tights. I was pushing him back," Carroll told jurors from the witness stand. She made the claim for the first time in a 2019 New York Magazine excerpt from her book.

After a New York legislation went into effect that allows victims of sexual assault a year to bring a lawsuit against their claimed perpetrators decades after attacks may have occurred, Carroll filed the complaint late last year.

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