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E.
Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, has said
Trump maneuvered her into a Bergdorf Goodman department store
dressing room in late 1995 or early 1996, after seeking her help
in buying lingerie for another woman.
Carroll said that once they were alone, Trump shut the door,
forced her against a wall and raped her, until she was able to
flee after two or three minutes.
Trump, 76, has forcefully denied raping Carroll, saying she was
not his "type" and made up the claim to promote her 2019 memoir,
"What Do We Need Men For?"
Carroll, 79, is suing Trump for defamation after he denied her
rape claim in an October post on his Truth Social platform.
She is also suing under New York's Adult Survivors Act, which
lets adults sue their alleged abusers long after statutes of
limitations have run out.
A six-man, three-woman jury is expected to decide whether to
hold Trump liable for damages, and if so how much he owes
Carroll in damages.
The trial before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan
is expected to last one to two weeks.
Other possible witnesses for Carroll include two friends in whom
she confided about Trump's alleged rape, and two other women who
have accused Trump of sexual assault.
Trump is the Republican front-runner in the 2024 U.S.
presidential election.
He is not required to appear at the trial, and his lawyer Joe
Tacopina said on Tuesday he was "not sure" whether Trump would
testify.
In her opening statement on Tuesday, Shawn Crowley, one of
Carroll's lawyers, told jurors that the evidence made the trial
more than a "he said, she said" dispute.
Tacopina countered that the evidence was not there, and that if
jurors in heavily Democratic Manhattan did not like Trump they
should express themselves at the ballot box, not in court.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Josie
Kao)
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