Trump faces civil trial in rape and defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll

Amna Nawaz:

A civil trial is under way over a magazine columnist's allegation that former President Donald Trump raped her more than two decades ago.

Political correspondent Lisa Desjardins takes a look at the lawsuit and the assault allegations against the former president.

And a warning:

This story contains details of those sexual violence allegations.

Lisa Desjardins:

It is the latest legal battle involving former President Trump. E. Jean Carroll, a magazine advice columnist, has accused Trump of raping her in the mid-'90s.

In a civil lawsuit filed in New York, Carroll is seeking unspecified damages for the alleged assault. She also accuses Trump of defaming her character. The trial is expected to last for one or two weeks. Carroll says the assault took place in a dressing room inside Bergdorf Goodman, a New York department store.

Here is how she described it to CNN in 2019.

E. Jean Carroll, Trump Accuser:

He pulled down my tights. And it was a fight. It was a — I want women to know that I did not stand there. I did not freeze. I was not paralyzed, which is a reaction that I could have had, because it's so shocking.

No, I fought. And it was over very quickly. It was against my will, 100 percent.

Lisa Desjardins:

Carroll revealed the story 20 years after she says it happened in her 2019 memoir. She can go to court now because New York lawmakers passed a new state law allowing victims of abuse to file civil lawsuits against attackers, even if the statute of limitations has run out.

The former president has repeatedly denied that he raped Carroll, and accused her of lying. In an interview with The Hill, he said Carroll was — quote — "not my type."

He also previously claimed that he had never met Carroll, but her attorneys have provided the court of a picture of them talking at an event in the '80s. Trump is not expected to testify in this trial, but two other women who have accused Trump of assault have been cleared to do so.

Jessica Leeds alleged Trump groped her on the flight in 1979. And "People" magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff has accused him of groping her in 2005 at Mar-a-Lago while she was there to interview him. More than two dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.

He has charged that the stories are fabricated and politically motivated. Carroll's defamation accusation is part of a separate suit filed in D.C. That has been indefinitely delayed.

Today, in Manhattan, a jury was selected, and both sides presented opening arguments in this case.

Washington Post reporter Shayna Jacobs covers two of New York's federal court districts and was in the courtroom today. And she joins us now.

Shayna, take us into the courtroom. What did each side seem to indicate about their approach to this case?

Shayna Jacobs, The Washington Post:

Each side presented a vastly different version of events.

On Carroll's side, her attorney said that Carroll was violently assaulted in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s and that she fled from the store, told — immediately told two close friends and kept it secret for decades because she was terrified that Trump could ruin her life and ruin her career.

At the time, he was a very, very prominent real estate professional. And, obviously, his profile only rose since then. Trump's attorney says this entire thing was made up, and that Carroll and her two friends actually colluded to come up with a story because of a political vendetta against him once he — once he was elected.

Lisa Desjardins:

The judge in his case is known for being no-nonsense, trying to move things along.

Help us understand the judge and the jury here, including how the judge is keeping the jury safe. And how in the world do you pick a jury that is neutral about Donald Trump?

Shayna Jacobs:

So, not even the judge knows their identities. They are known only by their assigned juror number.

There was not much biographical information made public during the voir dire process. And they will also be picked up off-site by courthouse staff and driven to the courthouse, so that they don't even have any chance of interacting with anyone outside the building or in the hallway.

They're really very, very protected from any possible interaction with someone they're not supposed to see or speak to. And, again, not even the judge has their identities in front of him. So it's basically as private as it — private a process as it could possibly be.

Lisa Desjardins:

And on the question of neutrality, I saw that jurors were asked if they have been to rallies, those kinds of things. Is that how they did that?

Shayna Jacobs:

Yes, I mean, it was posed to the entire room of potential jurors. And instead of going one by one and asking that, anybody who had been to a rally, anybody with an affiliation, really with sort of like more extreme group on the spectrum, both left and right — some of the names that were thrown out were Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, QAnon, Antifa.

So they were asked, are you a member of or are you affiliated with any of these groups? And I believe nobody raised their hand to that question. If they had raised their hand, I imagine they'd have been dismissed.

Lisa Desjardins:

What does Ms. Carroll need to show here in this civil trial to be successful in her lawsuit? What does she need to prove?

Shayna Jacobs:

E. Jean Carroll, yes, she has to prove by a preponderance of the evidence, which is really essentially means more likely than not, that she was — that she suffered harm as a result of this, emotional harm, and that her career in her life, livelihood was damaged, that she suffered reputational damage as a result of what Donald Trump said, really, though, specifically, just what he said last year in a social media post, which mirrored comments he made to reporters in 2019 when this first came out.

So it's sort of like a duplicate set of defamation charges. There's a separate lawsuit still pending in an appellate court for the older defamation claims from 2019. But she is — this trial does contain defamation and battery allegations related to the alleged assault.

Lisa Desjardins:

The former president has given some testimony and deposition. He's not expected, I don't think, to be a live witness yet, but do we know if he will be in the courtroom? Or what does that look like?

Shayna Jacobs:

His attorney has not — last I saw — I did leave a little bit before the proceeding ended.

But last I saw and heard, his attorney, Joe Tacopina, has not fully committed either way. He did tell the jury that he expected they would hear his videotaped deposition from last year. So, all indications are that he's not going to testify. I — that still leaves open the possibility that he might appear in the courtroom just to physically be there at one point or another.

But we have not heard any definitive thing that would lead us to believe he will — he will be there in the next few days or next week.

Lisa Desjardins:

Shayna Jacobs with The Washington Post, thanks for joining us, especially when you're on deadline.

Shayna Jacobs:

Thank you.