E. Jean Carroll testifies: ‘Donald Trump raped me and when I wrote it, he said it didn’t happen’

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Editors Note: This story contains graphic descriptions of an alleged assault.

New York CNN —

Former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll took the stand Wednesday morning in her battery and defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump.

I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote this, he said it didn’t happen, Carroll testified. He lied and ruined my reputation and Im here to try to get my life back.

Carroll sued Trump for battery and defamation, alleging that he raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the spring of 1996 and then defamed her years later when she went public with the allegations. Trump has repeatedly denied his allegations.

On the stand, Carroll recalled that he enjoyed shopping with Trump, thinking it would be a good story to tell friends.

Well, it was a funny scene in New York, Carroll said he thought at the time. I love to give advice and here’s Donald Trump asking me for advice on buying a gift.

He is not afraid of Trump, who is friendly and very funny. I was absolutely enchanted, I could only think of it as a scene that is such a great story, said Carroll.

The tone of their conversation was very joshing and light as they moved through the store.

Carroll was too focused on Trump to notice anyone once they took the escalator from the first floor, he testified.

I wasn’t looking, I was watching him and watching that I didn’t fall when the escalator hit the top.

Carroll recalled that she must have been flirting with Trump the whole time before the alleged assault, not thinking it was intimate or serious.

When the two headed to the lingerie department, Carroll said the banter was heating up but it never occurred to her that Trump might try to seduce her.

Zeroing in on a skimpy gray bodysuit, Trump told Carroll to try it on, he said. He jokingly tells her that she should try it instead.

Carroll had no intention of trying on the underwear, she testified Wednesday, but followed Trump’s gesture in the dressing room thinking the moment might turn into a funny Saturday Night Live sketch.

I didn’t think anything about what was going to happen, he said on Wednesday. That open door haunted me for years because I just walked in, walked in.

Carroll recounted how Trump allegedly pushed her against a wall despite her struggles and eventually inserted his fingers and then his penis inside her.

He remembered the pain he felt in the back of his head and his penis.

Growing emotional on the stand, Carroll paused when her attorney asked what she did after Trump allegedly forced himself inside her.

When you ask me what I did at that moment, Carroll said, choking back tears, I always wonder why I went in there to put myself in that situation. But Im proud to say I did get out, I got my knee up and pushed him back.

Before Carroll took the stand, former Bergdorf Goodman Womens Store Manager Cheryl Beall testified for less than an hour as the Carrolls’ first witness in the civil trial.

Beall worked at the luxury department store for a decade until about 1998, and had an office on the sixth floor next to the lingerie department where Carroll alleges Trump raped her.

He took the jury to a floor plan of the sixth floor from the relevant time period, which described the layout and fitting rooms on that floor as a timber-walled room with walls meeting the ceiling. The fitting room door automatically locks when closed, he testified.

Beall said the store has a practice of keeping the fitting room doors closed when not in use, but they are routinely left open.

Bergdorf Goodman schedules at least one person to monitor each department at all times but it’s common for the sixth-floor space to be left empty, especially on a slow night, Beall said.

This story will be broken and updated.

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