A New Look at the Case of Ms. Carroll: The Trial of Mr. Trump in a New York City High-Relevance Tortuous Case
The measure passed, and shortly after midnight on Nov. 24, when it took effect, Ms. Carroll sued Mr. Trump. After years of accusations, angry denials, and articles, the trial in federal district court in Manhattan will determine the truth.
It is planned to take place in the midst of a series of legal cases that aim at Mr. Trump and are meant to drag him down. It is just a few weeks after Mr. Trump appeared in Manhattan Supreme Court and pleaded not guilty to fraud charges stemming from payments to a porn star.
A cyclone of news coverage followed his arraignment. His history of attacking judges, law enforcement officials and even individual jurors in other matters, has led the judge in Ms. Carroll’s case, Lewis A. Kaplan, to take steps to protect jurors who might fear retribution by the former president’s supporters: He ordered that they be kept anonymous, even from the lawyers and parties.
In his opening statement, Trump lawyer Joseph Tacopina attacked every element of the allegations, starting with Carroll’s character, saying she was motivated by money and fame. “You cannot let her profit from her abuse of this process and her attempts to deceive you,” Tacopina said, adding that her allegations undermine “real rape victims.” He said Carroll’s inability to remember the month or even the year of the alleged assault makes it impossible for Trump to provide an alibi.
Trump is accused of battery and defamation in this suit, which was filed late last year. Carroll has a separate civil suit against Trump for defamation only, which has not gone to trial.
Carroll’s attorney, Shawn Crowley, began her opening presentation by vividly recounting the story at the core of Carroll’s allegations. It was explained that Trump forced the girl into sexual intercourse even as she resisted. Crowley said now, nearly three decades later, Carroll is trying to hold Donald Trump accountable for what he did to her in that dressing room and to “restore her good name.”
The second suit was filed in November 2022, under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year window for people alleging sexual assault to bring civil claims older than would otherwise be allowable under the statute of limitations. The second suit has a defamation claim. Because Trump was no longer president at the time the claim was filed, it has proceeded quickly to trial.
The Carroll team may also show jurors excerpts from the “Access Hollywood” video in which Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women (he claimed the statement was “locker room talk” not meant in earnest.)
It is not yet known if Trump will testify in his defense, but the defense team only has one witness and he is a Psychiatrist.
It was alleged that Trump made a defamatory statement about her. It’s possible that the Damages could be tens of millions of dollars.
To many women, Mr. Trump has come to represent male sexual entitlement. I heard this many times while researching my book about why accusers are often doubted. When the notorious “Access Hollywood” videotape surfaced during the 2016 presidential campaign in which Mr. Trump bragged about sexually harassing women, Marissa Ross, who has written about sexual assault and harassment in the wine industry, was typical of many other women who did the same. You can do anything, even grab a woman’s genitals. When she heard the tape, Ms. Ross told me, “I didn’t just hear Donald Trump. I heard every man that’s ever hurt me. It was my ex-boyfriend, and it was all the boys in high school. It wasn’t just hearing Trump, for me and I imagine many other survivors did the same. It was everyone that violated me.”
There is no video or forensic evidence to support Carroll’s rape claim, and Carroll is not even certain whether the assault took place in 1995 or 1996. But Crowley told jurors this is not a “he-said, she-said” case, because Carroll’s allegations will be supported by the testimony of two friends of Carroll’s whom she told shortly after the alleged assault, with key details being backed up by two witnesses who worked at Bergdorf Goodman’s.
The jury in the case are not public. The nine men and three women who will be known only by numbers assigned to them will arrive by car and leave at undisclosed drop-off points.
Tacopina remained frightened at the end of the first term after Trump’s apology to C.C. Crowley
When Trump heard about the tape he dismissed it as a “smitty room talk” and said that it was not an admission of anything.
While Crowley kept a calm demeanor as she laid out Carroll’s claims, Tacopina at times appeared to be genuinely angry, his hands gripping the lectern and his voice rising.