2023-04-27 19:10:42
By Jack Queen and Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s legal team began attacking the credibility of former Elle magazine columnist Jean Carroll on Thursday as the civil trial resumed over her claim that the former U.S. president he raped her and lied about it.
Questioning Carroll in Manhattan federal court, Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, suggested that Carroll’s account was “bizarre” and that she had a political agenda in accusing Trump of rape.
Carroll testified Wednesday in full detail how Trump allegedly raped her at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in late 1995 or early 1996, saying that Trump’s subsequent denials shattered his reputation and ruined his career.
The former columnist said Trump, who had been shopping for lingerie for another woman at Bergdorf, took her into a fitting room, pinned her against a wall and raped her.
Trump has consistently denied Carroll’s allegations, saying she fabricated them to sell his memoirs and hurt him politically.
Carroll, who is a registered Democrat, is seeking unspecified damages from Trump, who is leading the Republican race for the 2024 presidential campaign.
The lawsuit includes a claim for assault under the Adult Survivors Act, a 2022 New York State law that allows adults who say they have been sexually abused to sue their alleged abusers even if the statute of limitations has expired.
Carroll has also filed a defamation lawsuit over an October 2022 post by Trump on her Truth Social platform, calling the violation a hoax and scam, and accusing her of fabricating a story to sell her memoirs.
(Reporting by Jack Queen and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing in Spanish by Javier López de Lérida)
#Donald #Trumps #lawyer #rape #claim #politically #motivated