The former cheerleader who had a ton of guts to take on Donald Trump

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New York: The morning after testifying in gruesome detail about Donald Trump’s alleged rape in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store, E. Jean Carroll logged on to Twitter to find a vicious attack .

Slut. liar Ugly. old

Author E. Jean Carroll arrives in federal court in New York on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.Credit:Bloomberg

As he recounted the messages to a jury during his trial, the US author appeared emotional, then paused for a minute.

Despite everything, he told the court: I couldn’t be prouder to be here.

Three decades since the alleged assault that she says changed her life, the Carrolls’ civil trial was a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement sparked by sexual predation by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Trump, after all, is a former president and the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 US election. He has also been accused of sexually harassing or assaulting more than two dozen women since the 1970s all allegations he has denied but this is the first time a jury has been asked to determine a claim in court.

If the jury finds against him, one of the most powerful men in America will be liable for battery (related to rape) and defamation, for attacking Carrolls reputation and accusing him of committing fraud after he publicly revealed his claim in 2019.

Donald Trump is campaigning in New Hampshire during the trial.Credit:AP

And while Trump will inevitably appeal against such a verdict, it will nonetheless mark the first time he has been held accountable in court for his treatment of women, adding to his string of other legal troubles as the race for the White House is intensifying.

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For Trump, who says he doesn’t know Carroll and that he’s not my type, the trial is an example of another witch hunt.

For Carroll, 79, who grew up in an era where women were taught to smile and bear it, this was her chance to speak her truth.

As he told the jury in his opening statement: I’m here to try to get my life back.

The coolest girl around

The seeds of this endeavor were sown in 2017, when Carroll planned to embark on a book project in which she would collect the stories of trailblazing women across the US.

But when revelations emerged about Weinstein’s sexual misconduct, it prompted her to confront her own story as well.

The flood of sexual abuse allegations against Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein sparked the #MeToo movement.Credit:AP

A former beauty queen and Miss Cheerleader USA, Carroll spent many years as a socialite in Manhattan’s elite media circles. She is best known for her Ask E. Jean advice column in Elle magazine; he wrote for Saturday Night Live; and his work has been featured in publications such as Playboy and Rolling Stone.

She’s the coolest female journalist around as bold, has so much guts, and is just as funny as the guys, Sex and the City creator Candace Bushnell told USA Today in 2019. Absolutely nothing and nothing like it. he.

But Carroll says his life was forever changed by a chance encounter with Trump in the mid-1990s at Bergdorf Goodman, an upmarket department store not far from Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

He passed through the door and he said, Hey, you are that woman of counsel, he testified, to which he answered: Hey, you are the powerful property.

The Bergdorf Goodman store in New York City, where E. Jean Carroll has alleged that Donald Trump raped her. Credit:iStock

Trump then asked Carroll to help him pick out a gift for another woman. She happily obliged and they went to the lingerie section, where she found a bodysuit that she asked him to try on, Carroll said.

He joked that she should try on the bodysuit, thinking it was funny, but when they got into the dressing room, he immediately closed the door and forced himself on her, she said.

Carroll said that at one point, she tried to push Trump back, but he pushed her into a wall, hitting her head. He then used his full weight to hold her there and pulled her tights down.

“His fingers went into my penis, which hurt a lot,” Carroll said. After that he inserted his penis. He said he has not had an intimate relationship since then.

There is something wrong with him

Meanwhile, Trump has not presented a defense case. His only expected witness, a psychiatrist, did not testify last week for health reasons, and the former president did not attend, which legal experts say is a risk.

Columbia Law School professor John Coffee said: My view is that if a juror perceives that the defendant is not even showing enough respect for the process or for the juror to come, it will create some resentment. They can take really high damage.

Trump and his legal team’s strategy has instead been to discredit Carroll as a workaholic who fabricated the story for politics, money and fame.

He is a liar and a sick person in my opinion, Trump said in a video deposition taken in October and played for the jury last week. There is something wrong with him.

Marla Maples and Donald Trump at the Indy 500 race in 1996. Credit: BRIAN CLEARY

He also said in the deposition that Carroll was not his type, but he minimized his own defense when he mistook a photo of his accuser for his second wife, Marla Maples.

Its Marla, he said, before telling the blonde girl in the picture he was examining was Carroll. Is that Carroll? Because it’s so blurry.

Another hilarious moment came when Trump was played the now infamous Access Hollywood video that was leaked the month before he defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. In it, he is heard saying on TV host Billy Bush about picking up a married woman shopping for furniture before he moves on her like a bitch. He then bragged about groping women without consent.

When you’re a star, they let you do it, he said, unknowingly with a hot mic. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.

Asked by Carrolls attorney Roberta Kaplan if this was true, Trump replied: Well, if you look over the last million years, I think it’s more true. Not always, but mostly true. Unfortunately or fortunately.

I don’t shout

Carrolls cross-examination was also wonderful to watch. There are gaps in his evidence such as the exact date of the alleged rape or the fact that there are no witnesses or security footage but the optics are clear.

Here was the former badass writer to one side, impeccably dressed but frail and occasionally frail, facing off against Trumps lawyer, Joe Tacopina, a hard-nosed Brooklyn litigator with the frame of a heavyweight boxer, who seemed asserted what the rape victim is. should look like.

Joe Tacopina, a member of Trumps legal team.Credit:Bloomberg

Why didn’t he call the police? Who did he say? Did he take a shower when he got home or did he get medical treatment? Did he shoot his wounds? And why didn’t he scream?

I’m not a screamer, Carroll answered at one point. You can’t beat me by not yelling.

Tacopina: I’m not beating you, I’m asking.

Carroll: I’m telling you. He raped me whether I screamed or not.

Deliberations will begin

Carroll is one of at least 26 women who have accused Trump of sexual harassment or assault since the 1970s.

Two others testified in her defense during the trial: Jessica Leeds, who alleged that Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight in 1979, and Natasha Stoynoff, a former writer of People magazine staff who said Trump pinned him. wall and forcibly kissed him at his Florida mansion when he went there in 2005 to interview him and his wife Melania.

Trump has denied both allegations. His fate in this trial will be determined this week when the jury is expected to begin deliberations on Monday afternoon (Tuesday AEST).

Outside the court, opinion is divided on what the verdict will be and whether it will make a difference to his political fortunes.

We’ve lost our minds in this country, said Laurie Arbeiter, standing near the entrance holding a Grab Trump sign before she lashed out again.

How did someone like this get into the most powerful office under one of the most militarized countries in the world? And think: he can come back because he was convicted, by arguing that he was the victim.

As if on cue, a black ute slowed down beside him.

You can touch all the signs you want, the driver shouted from his window. I am not even a fan of Trump but he is our next president.

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