E. Jean Carroll today repeated in court her allegation that Donald Trump raped her as her lawsuit went to trial in New York City: “”I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m here to try and get my life back.”
In other developments, the judge said Trump made an “entirely inappropriate” online statement about the trial and warned the former president’s lawyers that he could bring more legal problems upon himself. As court was about to begin Wednesday, Trump — who has not attended so far — posted on his social media platform that the case “is a made-up scam.”
The civil trial could find Trump financially liable for the claimed conduct, which Carroll said took place in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Trump denies the allegation, but has said peculiar and incriminating things about Carroll, including mistakenly identifying her as his wife in a deposition after publicly offering that she wasn’t “his type”.
Carroll, a writer, was fired by Elle magazine after going public with her accusation.
