The advice columnist E Jean Carroll returns to the witness stand on Monday to face another day of cross-examination in her lawsuit against Donald Trump for alleged rape and defamation.
Last week, Carroll denied that she falsely accused Trump of assaulting her in order to sell books and for political ends. She is seeking damages for alleged rape in a New York department store changing room in 1996, and for defamation after Trump accused her of lying when she went public with her accusations in a book.
Carroll said she was motivated to speak up after the New York Times exposed Harvey Weinstein’s crimes and fired the #MeToo movement.
Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, is expected to ask Carroll about a conversation she had at a party with George Conway, then the husband of one of Trump’s top White House aides, Kellyanne Conway. Carroll has already acknowledged that Conway, a vocal critic of Trump to the embarrassment of his now former wife, prompted her to sue the former president.
Last week, Tacopina sought to discredit Carroll’s account by dwelling on why she didn’t scream during the alleged attack.
“I was in too much of a panic to scream,” she responded. “You can’t beat up on me for not screaming.”
Carroll said that women who report rape are frequently asked why they didn’t scream, which was one of the reasons they do not go to the police.
Tacopina continued to press the issue, asking about differing accounts Carroll had given over the years for not screaming including that she “isn’t a screamer” and that she was too full of adrenaline.
“I’m telling you he raped me whether I screamed or not,” she said, her voice breaking.
Tacopina also confronted Carroll about her failure to call the police. Instead she called a friend, Lisa Birnbach.
“Many women do not go to the police. I understand why,” she said.
Later this week, Carroll’s legal team is expected to call Birnbach and another woman, Carol Martin, to testify that the advice columnist told them about the alleged assault shortly after it occurred. Both have since corroborated the account.
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Carroll testified that Birnbach told her the alleged attack was rape and to call the police. But Martin advised her to keep quiet because Trump was a powerful businessman who would “bury” her.
Carroll kept her silent for more than two decades but changed her mind as other women came forward to recount their experiences of sexual assault and harassment as the #MeToo movement swept the US. She wrote a book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal, detailing abuse of one kind or other by a number of men, including Trump. Excerpts were published in New York magazine in 2019.
Trump called Carroll’s allegations “a complete con job” and said her book “should be sold in the fiction section”.
“She completely made up a story that I met her at the doors of this crowded New York City Department Store and, within minutes, ‘swooned’ her. It is a Hoax and a lie,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Carroll’s legal team is also expected to call two other women to show that Trump has a track record of assaulting women. Natasha Stoynoff, a writer for People magazine, is expected to testify that in 2005 Trump led her into an empty room and forcibly kissed her until he was interrupted. Jessica Leeds accuses Trump of assaulting her on a plane in 1979 by grabbing her breasts and trying to put his hand up her skirt.
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