Attorneys for ex-Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll told a New York jury on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump not only sexually assaulted her in 1996 but also used his power as commander in chief to drag her name through the mud, attack her credibility, and unleash his supporters who relentlessly harassed her at every turn.
“Donald Trump was president when he made those statements, and he used the world’s biggest microphone to attack Ms. Carroll, humiliate her, and to destroy her reputation,” attorney Shawn Crawley told a nine-person New York jury, adding that not only did Trump ruin Carroll’s life with lies but that he did nothing when others targeted her.
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Crowley also told jurors that the sexual assault against Carroll had already been proven in a separate trial last year and that they were there to only decide how much money Trump should be forced to pay Carroll for defaming her.
Trump’s attorney Alina Habba painted a very different picture during her opening statement, telling jurors that Carroll did not suffer damages but rather leveraged her connection to Trump to sell books and gain fame.
Habba added that Carroll enjoyed the limelight and notoriety that came with linking herself to Trump and that Trump was the damaged party.
Trump arrived at a snow-covered Manhattan federal courthouse Tuesday morning, fresh off his Monday win in the Iowa caucuses.
The jury could force Trump to pay Carroll more than $10 million in damages after she accused him of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in 1995.
The nine jurors tapped to decide his financial fate were whittled down from a pool of 80.
The jury includes a 60-year-old train conductor from the Bronx, a 46-year-old doctor from Westchester, and a 26-year-old property manager with an associate’s degree in business.
Judge Lewis Kaplan also laid out a time frame of about three to five days for both sides to present their case. The defense said it would take about one and a half days. Carol Martin, one of Carroll’s close friends, is likely to testify.
There is also a probability that Trump may also take the stand in his defense.
Even if both sides wrap up testimony this week, Kaplan has given Trump until Monday to testify, should he choose.
Ahead of his appearance in the courthouse Tuesday morning, Trump went on a three-part tirade on Truth Social, his social media platform, where he suggested there was no way he met Carroll several decades ago because he has been long considered an “A-List celebrity,” while she was not. He also took verbal jabs at Kaplan, who Trump claimed has been blinded by “his absolute hatred of Donald J. Trump (ME!).”
Though he showed up during jury selection, Trump did not stick around for opening statements, instead hopping on a plane headed for New Hampshire, where he had a rally scheduled for Tuesday night.
On his way to New Hampshire, Trump once again turned to Truth Social to blast the proceedings, calling Kaplan a “Bully” and a “Trump Hating, Radical Left Judge.”
He blamed his absence on the New Hampshire campaign trail on the trial, claiming he should have been in New Hampshire but had to “spend time in a federal courthouse.”
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Trump was not required to attend Tuesday’s court proceedings and had skipped the first trial.
New Hampshire will hold its Republican primary election next week.