Former journalist Elle J. Carroll arrives in court where she is suing former US President Donald Trump, April 26, 2023, in New York.
New York – Former journalist Elle J. Carroll testified today in a court in New York that the later US President Donald Trump accompanied her to a clothing store in 1996 and raped her there. Trump has not yet come to court in person, but he denies the accusations, writes the AP agency. Judge Lewis Kaplan today reprimanded Trump for his latest posts on the Truth Social social network, which the judge said were “totally inappropriate,” The Guardian reported. Carroll is suing Trump for assault and defamation, seeking damages after Trump called her allegations false.
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In her 2019 book, Carroll accused Trump of raping her in the 1990s in a dressing room at a New York clothing store across from Trump Tower. Trump responded to the allegations by calling Carroll a liar and saying the incident could not have happened because she was “not his type.”
“I'm here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I told she wrote, he said it didn't happen. He lied and ruined my reputation and I'm here to try to get my life back,” Carroll testified in the trial, which began Tuesday.
Trump, who has so far did not take part in the meeting, calling the case a “contrived fraud” and Carroll's lawyer a “political agent”. Judge Kaplan warned the former president's lawyers that such statements about the case could lead to further legal problems for Trump.
The trial is being held in federal civil court, meaning Trump will not face jail time regardless of the outcome. He also does not have to appear in court and his lawyers have indicated that he will most likely not testify. Carroll is seeking unspecified damages from Trump and a retraction of the allegations that he is lying. The process will take about another week.
