He Raped Me Whether I Screamed or Not: E. Jean Carroll, Donald Trump, and the Narratives on Trial

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Are you on Truth Social, Ms. Carroll?

During the second day of his testimony on Thursday, as he was questioned by one of his lawyers, the magazine writer and longtimeEllecolumnistE. Jean Carroll looks back on the past few years of her experience with social media. He, he told his lawyer, on the platform, former president Donald Trumps hastily launched a Twitter clone. Carroll sued Trump in November over her allegation, which she first made in 2019, that the former president raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in 1996. Since coming forward with her accusation, which Trump denies, she said Carroll said he saw his daily life shaped by the kind of discourse that has become familiar to almost every American following along with the Trump Era. In October 2022, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Carrolls lawsuit against him was a complete con job and a Hoax and a lie.

Carroll touted the new New York state law where she is suing Trump, which gave a one-year grace period for adult sexual abuse victims to file lawsuits against their alleged abusers after the statute of limitations has passed. (The trial is in federal court because Carroll and Trump live in different states.) In a Manhattan courtroom Thursday, on his second day of testimony, his attorney asked Carroll why he did it. Because I understand why women, in particular, and some men don’t approach, she replied. It takes years, and ages, and ages.

As a veteran magazine writer, in recent years Carroll has focused his work and public statements on such questions. Testifying in a federal courthouse, he reflected on many of the common issues that often go unaddressed in high-profile sex-abuse trials. There’s a playbook for defense attorneys in these cases: They look for inconsistencies and ask why the alleged victims didn’t do one thing or another at the time they said they were abused. Joe Tacopina, the celebrity lawyer representing Trump, sparred repeatedly with Carroll over his account. They go back and forth about the meaning of certain words like unimaginative, satire, and skimpy, with Tacopina painting herself as a folksy foil to the literary-minded witness. He asks why she doesn’t scream, and evokes one of the days with the highest temperature.

He raped me whether I screamed or not, Carroll said, his voice rising.

You need a minute, Ms. Carroll?

No, go ahead.

Tacopina, dressed in a tight suit with gelled hair, is a former representative of Alex Rodriguez and A$AP Rocky. In recent weeks, he has become a cable news fixture due to his involvement in the Trumpsother ongoing Manhattan legal matter. Carroll knows the persona.

Exercise all the time, he told Tacopina at one point. We read about it.

Tacopina seems to have to stop herself from getting involved.

Earlier this month, when Trump was indicted on charges of falsifying business records, his arrival from Palm Beach for his bar was an all-day news event. (He has pleaded not guilty.) As of Thursday, as Carroll testified, Trump was campaigning in New Hampshire to regain the presidency. Near the courthouse, a film crew films the CBS proceduralFBI and a tour group looks at One World Trade Center. Some of the people gathered around the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse were there for British singer Ed Sheeran’s copyright infringement trial. (He denied claims of copying a Marvin Gaye song.)

During his questioning, Carrolls attorney showed some of the tweets directed at him. Trump’s initial denial in June 2019 centered on his description of Carroll as not my type. As the years passed, his supporters continued to echo the idea. Carroll said the comments he received remain equally hurtful and offensive related to the initial blowback.

I checked my Twitter this morning, he said. They didn’t stop.

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