Alexandra Miller
Jury selection set to start in rape lawsuit against Trump
Advice columnist E. Jean Carroll claims Trump raped her nearly three decades ago in a department store dressing room. He denies it.
LEARN MOREApril 26, 2023
The woman who claims that former President Donald Trump raped her nearly 30 years ago took the witness stand in a New York on Wednesday.
Lawyers for both sides wrapped up their opening arguments in the civil case between advice columnist E. Jean Carroll and Trump.
Carroll alleges Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in 1996. Trump has denied the claims.
Carroll also said Trump defamed her back in 2022, when he took to Truth Social to call her a liar and said the accusation was a hoax. Her lawyers said Trump assaulted her in multiple ways in the dressing room that night, and she told two friends about it — one that night, and the other in the following days.
Carroll said she stayed silent for 20 years.
Carroll’s lawyers pointed to a notorious Access Hollywood tape as an admission of Trump’s behavior. But the former president’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, called it "locker room talk." He spent the first part of the statements telling jurors they can hate Trump, but to do it at the ballot box. He called the case an "affront to justice" and one that's "abusing the system for money, political reasons and status that exploits real rape victims."
Tacopina said because Carroll never gave a specific date of the assault, Trump doesn't have an alibi.
The jury is made up of six men and three women of varying ages, races and degrees of education. Carroll's lawyers have a long list of witnesses, including Carroll herself, the two friends she supposedly told, two Bergdorf Goodman employees, and two women who say they have similar stories.
The former president will not testify, as his lawyers said he simply doesn't have more to add. Trump did give a taped deposition that could be played in place of his testimony.
