"I'm here because Donald Trump raped me": former American columnist E. Jean Carroll delivered Wednesday heavy accusations against the former president of the United States, who refutes them, during a civil trial in New York where she seeks compensation.

On the second day of this trial in federal court in Manhattan, E. Jean Carroll, 79, spoke in a calm and serious voice, before the nine citizens chosen by lot to determine whether or not Donald Trump assaulted her in the mid-1990s, in a fitting room of the New York luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman.

"I'm here," she said, more than 25 years later, "because Donald Trump raped me." Then, in a leaden silence, the former Elle magazine columnist continued: "And when I wrote about it (in a book in 2019), he said it didn't happen. He lied and broke my reputation. I'm here to get on with my life. »

The judge warns Donald Trump and his lawyer

Donald Trump has always refuted these accusations, saying he does not know E. Jean Carroll, despite a photo where we see them both, or swearing that she was "not his type". The former president, who will probably not come to give his version at the trial (his lawyer has until Friday to indicate if he intends to call him to the bar), spoke on his social network Truth Social to denounce "a scam fabricated".

This new public outing was strongly criticized by Judge Kaplan, who ordered Donald Trump's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, to call his client to order. Because by commenting publicly on the case in the middle of the trial, he risks exposing himself to new "charges", potentially obstruction of justice.

Aggression and defamation

The alleged facts are time-barred in criminal proceedings, but E. Jean Carroll was able to sue Donald Trump under a New York state law allowing victims of sexual assault to restart their civil lawsuit. She asks the jury to assess the amount of financial compensation for "aggression", but also "defamation", because of Donald Trump's comments on the case.

The former columnist has not yet been questioned by the former president's lawyers, one of whom, Joe Tacopina, has already portrayed her as a fantasist hungry for money and recognition.

E. Jean Carroll does not remember the date of the alleged assault, which she inferred to be in the spring of 1996, and there are no eyewitnesses who saw her with Donald Trump in the store. Two friends, to whom she had confided shortly after the alleged facts, will corroborate her account at the bar, promised Tuesday one of E. Jean Carroll.

The former president dreams of winning back the White House in 2024 against Joe Biden, who declared himself a candidate on Tuesday, but he sees the legal cases piling up. In early April, unprecedented historical for a former US president, he was indicted in criminal proceedings in New York for 34 accounting and tax frauds related to payments to cover up embarrassing cases before the 2016 presidential election.

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