A judge hearing Donald Trump’s sexual abuse trial warned he could face serious legal issues after the former president challenged the allegations of his accuser in a social media post which questioned why “she didn’t scream”.
Former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll claims the former US president raped her in a department store changing room in 1996, then attempted to “destroy her” by accusing her of lying when she went public years later.
Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social media account on the second day of the Manhattan civil trial calling the proceedings a “scam”.
Mr Trump, who is not expected to be called to give evidence during the two-week hearing, doubled down on his criticism of Ms Carroll, writing: “The E. Jean Carroll case, Ms. Bergdorf Goodman, is a made-up SCAM.”
“Does anybody believe that I would take a then almost 60 year old woman that I didn’t know, from the front door of a very crowded department store, (with me being very well known, to put it mildly!), into a tiny dressing room, and …. her,” he continued. “She didn’t scream? There are no witnesses? Nobody saw this? She never made a police complaint? If I was seen there with a woman-BIG PRESS. SCAM!”
Comments ‘entirely inappropriate’
Ms Carroll’s lawyer argued in court to Judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday morning that Mr Trump’s latest posts violate two court orders. Judge Kaplan replied that the 76-year-old Republican seemed to be trying to communicate to his supporters, or even perhaps jurors, about issues that “are not supposed to be part of the case”.
He said the comments were “entirely inappropriate”.
Joe Tacopina, a lawyer for Mr Trump, responded that he would “try to address that with my client” and that he would ask Mr Trump to “refrain from any further posts regarding this case”.
The judge responded: “Well, I hope you’re more successful,” and added that Mr Trump “may or may not be tampering with a new source of potential liability. And I think you know what I mean”.
Ms Carroll, 79, is suing the GOP front-runner in the 2024 US presidential election for defamation after he denied her rape claim in an October post on Truth Social.
Though these are civil proceedings and not a criminal trial, the stakes are still high for Mr Trump. If Ms Carroll is successful, it would be the first time he is held legally responsible for sexual assault, after more than two dozen such allegations have been made against him.
A six-man, three-woman jury is expected to decide whether to hold Mr Trump liable for damages, and, if so, how much he owes Ms Carroll in damages.
Other possible witnesses for Ms Carroll include two friends in whom she confided about Mr Trump’s alleged rape, and two other women who have accused him of sexual assault.
In her opening statement on Tuesday, Shawn Crowley, one of Ms Carroll’s lawyers, told jurors that the evidence made the trial more than a “he said, she said” dispute.
Mr Tacopina countered that the evidence was not there, and that if jurors in heavily Democratic Manhattan did not like Mr Trump, they should express themselves at the ballot box, not in court.