Trumps civil rape case: what is he accused of and what happens next? | Donald Trump

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The rape case brought in New York against Donald Trump by the famous advice columnist, E Jean Carroll has caught America’s attention as the latest legal drama involving the former US president.

The case is so far the only one to come to court among more than a dozen allegations of rape, groping and other sexual assaults made against Trump.

What is Carroll accusing Trump of?

Carroll filed two separate lawsuits against Trump. The former accused him of defamation after he accused her of lying in his book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal, in which she accuses Trump and other men of abusing her.

Carroll brought the second lawsuit after New York passed a law last year that gives adult victims of sexual assault a one-year window to file civil actions against their assailants if where the statute of limitations has expired. She is seeking damages after accusing Trump of assaulting her in a department store changing room in the mid-1990s.

The first case is on hold amid legal wrangling over whether Trump can be sued for comments he made as president.

What is Trump’s response to the accusations?

Trump has denied the allegations with his usual vigor, at various times saying that Carroll is completely lying and calling him a nut job. He also insisted that he would never hurt her because he was not my type.

Trump also said he had never met Carroll, although they were photographed together with their wives in 1987.

He said: I have never met this person in my life. He is trying to sell a new book which should indicate his motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section.

Why did the US justice department side with Trump in the Carrolls defamation case?

The justice department asked to move the defamation case from state to federal court on the grounds that Trump’s public statements in 2019 denying rape were made as part of his job as president. The administration argued afterward that Carroll was not suing Trump as an individual but as an employee of the US government, and therefore the government should be substituted for Trump as the defendant.

So the government asserts that this case is very similar in principle to a lawsuit against a Postal Service driver for causing an automobile accident while delivering mail, the judge said in considering the position.

The judge rejected the claim that the president was merely a government worker and said that, in any case, his remarks about Carroll were outside the scope of his work.

What will happen if Trump loses the sexual assault case?

If a jury finds that Trump raped or otherwise assaulted Carroll, he will likely be ordered to pay damages. It also means that for the first time in US history, a jury will find that a former president was a rapist.

Political scientists say it is unlikely to do much damage to Trump’s run for the Republican presidential nomination next year because his more ardent supporters view the various legal cases against him as a conspiracy.

But it will add to his already considerable political baggage in the general election and prove a further obstacle to re-election as president.

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