Lawyers are on their own as Donald Trump’s civil rape trial gets underway

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Opening statements concluded Tuesday in the civil trial on rape charges involving former President Donald Trump (pictured earlier this month in a fraud deposition). File Photo by John Nacion/UPI | License Image

April 25 (UPI) — The defamation and battery lawsuit against former President Donald Trump began Tuesday as the lawyer for writer E. Jean Carroll, who claims Trump raped her in a New York department store City in the 1990s, told the jury the former president “closed the door and grabbed him.”

Attorneys for both sides finished their opening statements Tuesday afternoon following the selection of a jury of six men and three women.

Carroll’s attorney, Shawn Crowley, told jurors, “Donald Trump attacked Carroll in 1996 and defamed him when he said he did it.” Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, argued that he was “doing it for money, political reasons, and status.”

He filed a lawsuit to “sell a book, hurt [Trump] political, and thrust oneself into the spotlight,” Tacopina said.

“The evidence will show that he told lie after lie in this case,” Crowley replied.

Carroll filed the lawsuit in November, alleging Trump defamed her in a 2022 Truth Social post when he called the allegations against her “fraud and lies.” He added the battery charge after New York passed the Adult Survivors Act, which allows victims to file civil lawsuits beyond the criminal statute of limitations.

Carroll’s rape allegations were first published in New York magazine in June 2019 while Trump was president, with an excerpt from his book What Do We Need Men For? A Moderate Measure.

In the article, Carroll said Trump approached her in 1996 at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan, where she said the former real estate tycoon followed her into a fitting room and raped her.

They “went around the store laughing and joking” before “everything changed,” Crowley told the jury Tuesday. “The truth is he didn’t see her as a threat that day, but he was wrong.”

“All of a sudden Ms. Carroll was in all the headlines. The most powerful person in the world … called her a liar,” Crowley said.

Trump’s attorney told the jury that Carroll was “untruthful” and untruthful.

“E. Jean Carroll cannot produce objective evidence to back up her claim, because it never happened,” Tacopina said. “She can’t tell you the date she claims she was raped.”

“E. Jean Carroll created a story about Donald Trump while he was president and then made that story central to his life and lifestyle,” Tacopina told the jury.

Senior US District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan is weighing whether or not Trump’s lawyers can tell jurors that plaintiff E. Jean Carroll’s legal fees are being paid by a major Democratic donor.

Carroll’s lawyers revealed earlier this month that a non-profit funded by billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is covering his legal costs.

In a deposition last fall, Carroll said he was not receiving any assistance covering legal fees.

Hoffman previously said publicly that he was not trying to hide his financial contribution to Carroll’s legal team.

A total of 10 potential jurors were dismissed near the start of the trial after being asked if they thought they could deliver an impartial verdict.

The judge earlier rejected a request for the jury to instruct Trump to be “excused” from attending court unless called to testify.

He also previously rejected a request by Trump’s lawyers to delay the start of the trial by a month.

Carroll’s attorneys have indicated they have no plans to call the former president on the stand. Trump is listed as a defense witness, but it is unclear if he will be called to testify.

The trial is expected to last approximately five days.

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