• E. Jean Carroll, former Elle magazine columnist, accuses Donald Trump of raping her in the spring of 1996, in a fitting room of a luxury department store in New York, then defaming her, after she made the first accusations in a book in 2019.
  • The former president never appeared in federal court in Manhattan during the two weeks of this civil trial. The jury had to make do with the video of his testimony in the proceedings, where he repeats that he does not remember E. Jean Carroll and assures that "she is not his type".
  • A conviction would add to the legal troubles of Donald Trump, again candidate for the White House in 2024. In early April, he was criminally charged in New York with 34 accounting and tax frauds related to payments to cover up embarrassing cases before the 2016 presidential election.

What will the jurors have in store for Donald Trump? The answer is approaching as the civil trial in New York against the former president, accused of rape and defamation by a former journalist, came to an end Monday with a final battle between lawyers.

After these last arguments of both sides, long and combative, a jury of nine citizens will have to decide from this Tuesday if the former tenant of the White House must pay damages to E. Jean Carroll. She accuses him of raping her in the spring of 1996, in a fitting room of a luxury department store in New York, Begdorf Goodman, and then defaming her, after she made the first accusations in a book in 2019.

Trump says he doesn't remember E. Jean Carroll

"No one, not even a former president, is above the law," said the lawyer of former Elle magazine columnist Roberta Kaplan in front of the six men and three women who make up the jury. "They want you to hate him enough to ignore the facts," retorted, during a 2:30 pleading, Donald Trump's counsel, Joe Tacopina, who again accused the plaintiff of fabricating the story.

Donald Trump never appeared in federal court in Manhattan during the two weeks of the trial, and the jury had to settle Thursday for the video of his testimony in the proceedings, where he repeats not to remember E. Jean Carroll and assures that "she is not his type". But Roberta Kaplan recalled that the former tenant of the White House confused in a photo the complainant with his former wife, the actress Marla Maples. E. Jean Carroll "was exactly his type," assured the lawyer.

While there are no eyewitnesses who saw Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll more than 25 years ago on the store's deserted shelves, two close friends of the journalist confirmed in court that she had confided to them, shortly after the alleged facts, that she had been "assaulted" or "attacked" by the businessman. And two women, among those who have accused Donald Trump of sexual assault in the past, also gave their testimony before the jury.

According to Mr. Kaplan, the former American president would have acted each time according to the same "modus operandi", the one he describes himself in a video that became famous, where he is heard in 2005 boasting of kissing and touching women as he pleases. Donald Trump's lawyer conceded that his client could express himself in a "raw" way about women, but "that does not make an incredible story credible".

The legal troubles of the candidate for the White House

Pointing to inconsistencies and the lack of physical evidence, he appealed to the jury's "common sense": if Donald Trump had assaulted E. Jean Carroll, "he would have been immediately arrested." She "never went to the police" because otherwise, "they would have conducted an investigation," he said.

Describing an outright conspiracy, the lawyer even suggested that E. Jean Carroll was inspired by an old episode of the police series New York, Special Unit, based on a rape at Bergdorf Goodman. According to him, the former journalist wanted to sell her book better in 2019. E. Jean Carroll has always explained that she did not denounce the facts for fear that Donald Trump would destroy her reputation.

The jury will now have to make up its mind. Even in civil matters, a conviction would add to the legal troubles of the former president, who is running for the White House again in 2024. In early April, unprecedented 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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