Today was day two of the trial when the woman at the center of it would testify about what she claims happened to her back in 1995 or 1996. After being sworn in, E. Jean Carroll got right to the point:
“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me,” Carroll told the jury Wednesday. Referring to a book she wrote in which she detailed the alleged incident, she said: “And when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation. And I’m here to try to get my life back.”
Carroll then narrated the incident which she claims started with Trump recognizing her in a New York Department store.
Trump put up his hand as she was leaving the store in the “universal symbol” for her to stop. Carroll imitated the gesture on the witness stand and deepened her voice to recreate her account of Trump’s dialogue.
“Hey, you’re that advice lady,” Trump said, as she tells it.
Carroll said she replied: “Hey, you’re that real estate tycoon.”
Trump said he needed to buy a present for a woman and she suggested a couple of things.
Carroll said she suggested a handbag and then a hat for the woman Trump said he was buying for but he wasn’t interested.
“He picked up a fur hat and he was petting it like a cat or a dog. Then he said, ‘I know, lingerie,’” she said. “He led the way to the escalator.”
Carroll described Trump as very talkative, and herself as “absolutely enchanted”.
“I was delighted to go to lingerie with him. He was very funny,” she said.
Carroll said Trump “snatched up” a grey-blue bodysuit in the lingerie department and demanded she try it on.
Carroll obviously didn’t take the demand seriously and claims she told Trump, “You put it on, it’s your color.” He then suggested they both try it on and pointed to a dressing room. Carroll admits she was “flirting the whole time, probably.”
Once inside the dressing room, she claims the encountered changed very quickly from light-hearted to a sexual assault.
“He immediately shut the door and shoved me up against the wall,” she testified. “And shoved me so hard my head banged. I was extremely confused and suddenly realizing that what I thought was happening was not happening.”
She testified that she didn’t call for help or yell. “This is going to sound odd: I didn’t want to make a scene,” she said. “I didn’t want to make him angry at me. This started out as something fun and light and comedic and something to tell people you were having dinner with, and it suddenly turned absolutely dark.”…
“But he had pulled down my tights and his fingers went into my vagina and it was extremely painful,” she said.
She claimed Trump then raped her and it lasted for a few moments but said she can’t remember if she said anything. Eventually she lifted her leg and was able to get out from under the weight of him holding her against the wall and fled the store. She claims she has always regretted her decision to go into the dressing room with Trump calling it “very stupid.”
Carroll claims to have told two friends about the alleged rape after it happened and both of those women are expected to testify in the trial. In addition, two other women who have accused Trump of similar assaults will also testify.
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. 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.
Carroll claims that she has never had sex or had another relationship since the alleged assault.
Trump has denied ever meeting Carroll though he acknowledged a photo from 1987 which shows they did meet at least briefly. His attorneys haven’t cross examined her yet but are expected to make a point of the fact that she can’t recall the month or even the year when this allegedly happened. She has said it was either late 1995 or early 1996. Trump himself is not expected to testify.
Here’s an ABC News report from earlier today.
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