The rape trial is turning the spotlight back on Trump and women

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NEW YORK (AP) Former President Donald Trump’s behavior toward women, long a source of flashpoints in his political career, now faces a new level of scrutiny: a trial in a lawsuit accusing him of rape. .

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by former adviser columnist E. Jean Carroll, who claims Trump raped her in a luxury New York department store dressing room in the 1990s.

Trump, who is unlikely to attend the trial, called the accusations a complete con job. Carroll, who is seeking unspecified damages, cast the case as a #MeToo-inspired search for accountability from the example of celebrities.

“I’m filing this lawsuit not just for myself but for every woman in America who has been caught, confronted, harassed, sexually assaulted and spoken out and still humiliated, humiliated or fired,” Carroll said early on.

The case puts Trump’s history with women under a microscope as he runs to return to the White House. But whether a trial on a rape accusation will be a crisis for most candidates, including Trump, remains to be seen.

To the extent that the chaos surrounding Trump is his biggest challenge, it reinforces that narrative, said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist who worked on Marco Rubios’ 2016 presidential campaign. The No. 1 that I hear in focus groups of Republican voters is that they are tired of the constant drama that comes with Trump.

Trump’s political rise has been fraught with criticism of his attitudes and behavior toward women. There are his insulting remarks about former Republican rival Carly Fiorinas, his misogynistic comments about former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, his double-down on bashing a former Miss Universe tattoo her about her weight and more including, most famously, the crass Access Hollywood hot-mic recording that nearly derailed her 2016 campaign and sparked rare regret over what she called locker room banter.

Then there were the dozens of women, including Carroll, who came forward during his campaign and presidency to accuse him of sexual assault and harassment. He denied all the claims. Other lawsuits against them were dismissed or dismissed, but the Carrolls persevered.

If Trump prevails in the case, he will likely view it as another example of him defeating what he sees as false claims about him, Conant said. If Trump loses, the impact may depend on the circumstances of the conviction. Carroll is seeking unspecified damages and a reprieve over Trump’s denials of his allegations.

Trump intends to use his other legal woes including a recent, unrelated indictment and ongoing investigation among other matters to bolster his support among fellow Republicans, painting the various investigations as a politically motivated shooting and a broad attempt to disrupt the 2024 election. It is unclear whether the voters he seeks to reach will sympathize with his characterization of Carrolls’ lawsuit as a pile-on, see it as a growing unrest or ignore it completely.

His campaign saw an increase in donations after his indictment, which accuses him of falsifying his company records to try to hide payments made to suppress stories about his alleged treason in marriage; he denies the allegations and the sexual relations.

His favorability ratings remained at 34% among US adults overall and 68% among Republicans, according to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Beyond its political ramifications, the trial marks a #MeToo milestone, even after closely watched civil and criminal cases against disgraced movie honcho Harvey Weinstein and other powerful figures. The case is also drawing national attention to a New York law that allows for lawsuits over decades-old sex crime claims.

The deadline for filing criminal charges on the allegations, which Carroll never reported to police, has long since passed. If he prevails in the lawsuit, it may cost Trump but not his freedom.

A former magazine journalist, talk show host and Saturday Night Live writer, Carroll was known at least until his lawsuit for the eponymous advice column he wrote for Elle magazine from 1993 to 2019.

According to Carroll, he crossed paths with Trump at Bergdorf Goodman in 1995 or 1996, when he was a real estate mogul and man about town. Recognizing her as that woman of advice, she asked him to help her browse for a gift for women, teased Carroll about a bodysuit and led her to a fitting room, she said. Then, as she said, he suddenly forced himself on her as she tried to push him away.

That rape changed my life, which is shocking for me to understand now, she said in a deposition, a legal term for pre-trial questioning under oath.

According to Carroll, she immediately lost dating interest and desire, then lost her job after she told her story in a 2019 memoir and Trump responded that she was flat out lying. Elle said her contract was not renewed for unrelated reasons.

Trump said he never met Carroll at Bergdorf Goodman and had no idea who she was when he publicly accused her. He insisted that he invented the story to sell his book.

This is a false accusation. Never happened, never would happen, he said in a caustic 5 1/2-hour deposition, which could be played for jurors.

In snippets released to date, he calls Carroll a nut job, his lawyer a disgrace and the case a big, fat fraud. He repeated his description of Carroll as not my type and mistakenly identified her in a 1987 photo as Marla Maples, his wife from 1993 to 1999.

Besides Carroll, two Trump accusers who never sued are scheduled to testify in the Carrolls’ case.

Jessica Leeds said Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt when they were seatmates on a flight three decades ago. People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff said Trump forcibly kissed her against her will while showing her around his Florida home for a 2005 article.

Jurors are also expected to hear the Access Hollywood recording.

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they go public.

The trial will open in a federal courthouse a block from the state courthouse where Trump was arraigned earlier this month.

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Associated Press writer Michelle Price contributed to this report.

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