Donald Trump trial: Defense presses E. Jean Carroll on why she didn’t scream
Kaelan Deese
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One of former President Donald Trump‘s lawyers pressed E. Jean Carroll on Thursday about her inability to recall the exact date on which she says he raped her nearly three decades ago while raising questions about a so-called scheme she discussed in an email exchange.
Carroll, a former Elle magazine writer, testified for a second day in her civil defamation lawsuit that claims Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman sometime between 1995 and 1996. Trump has vehemently denied that the rape ever occurred.
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Trump’s accuser has repeatedly said she can’t recall the exact date on which the alleged battery occurred but contends that it occurred on a Thursday evening between the fall of 1995 and the spring of 1996. A former store employee testified Wednesday that Thursdays were the only night of the week in which the luxury store stayed open late.
Trump attorney Joe Tacopina questioned why Carroll revealed now during the trial that the alleged rape happened on Thursday and why neither she nor two friends she says she told can recall the date.
Carroll repeatedly said, “I wish we could give you a date.” She said the day of the week wasn’t noted in a book she wrote or in past interviews because she wasn’t absolutely sure and wanted to “stick to the facts.”
Tacopina later questioned her about a 2017 email between her and her friend Carroll Martin discussing Trump, in which Martin sent, “As soon as we are both well enuf to scheme, we must do our patriotic duty again.” Carroll answered, “TOTALLY!!! I have something special for you when we meet.”
Carroll testified that she couldn’t recall what the email meant and that she remembered the “something special” was an unspecified “gift. That’s all I know.” She also said the word “scheme” carried no “evil” connotation.
Later on, Carroll defended herself as to why she did not scream for help during the period when Trump allegedly raped her.
“I’m not a screamer,” Carroll said as Tacopina pressed the question. “You can’t beat up on me for not screaming.”
Tacopina said he wasn’t beating up on her, and Caroll replied that women often keep silent about attacks because they fear being asked what they could have done to stop one. “He raped me whether I screamed or not!” Carroll said loudly, adding that she wished she had screamed so “more people would believe me.”
On why she went public with her story when she did in 2019, Tacopina alleged she was using the claim to attract a book publisher. Carroll denied that suggestion, saying it was prompted by the revelation stemming from Harvey Weinstein’s sexual deviancy revealed by the New York Times in 2017.
Toward the end of the day, Carroll confirmed that she never saw any doctors following the alleged rape and as a result did not have any medical records or visual evidence of physical injuries. Carroll contends her head hit the wall in the fitting room where she claims the attack took place.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is presiding over the trial, said Tacopina’s line of inquiry was at times “argumentative” and “repetitive.”
Tacopina was just about to ask Carroll about a dress she wore that day, which she has kept ever since. Kaplan immediately interjected and dismissed the jury for the day, according to the New York Times.
A nine-member jury is slated to decide whether Trump should be held liable for Carroll’s claims of the alleged attack from over two decades ago.
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Still to be presented in the trial is testimony from two other women who have accused the president of sexual misconduct, a deposition from the former president, and a showcase to the jury of the notorious Access Hollywood tape in which Trump boasts that celebrities can grab women by the vagina.
The trial is civil, not criminal, and Carroll is seeking unspecified damages. It would take only one juror to find Trump not liable, though he could owe up to millions of dollars in damages if found liable.