Webdesk: New York Jury selection began Tuesday in a lawsuit trial alleging that ex-president Donald Trump raped E. Jean Carroll 30 years ago.
The writer accused the former US president of sexually assaulting her in a New York department shop and defaming her when she went public with the claim years later.
Trump, facing several legal challenges that might jeopardise his 2024 presidential bid, denies the charges.
The trial, which originates from Carroll’s lawsuit against Trump, begins just weeks after Trump’s historic indictment in the Stormy Daniels case.
Trump allegedly raped the journalist in a Fifth Avenue department shop changing room in 1995 or 1996.
The 79-year-old stated Trump asked her for lingerie gift ideas before attacking her.
Carroll made the allegation in a 2019 New York Magazine excerpt from her book.
Trump stated he never met her, that she was “not my type,” and that she was “totally lying.”
Carroll sued Trump for defamation in 2019, but the statute of limitations for rape had elapsed.
However, a November 2018 law gave sexual assault victims a year to sue their abusers decades later.
“When he forcibly raped and groped” Carroll, her lawyers sued Trump for battery.
It also cited defamation for Trump’s October Truth Social post denying the rape and calling Carroll a “complete con job.”
The action wants specific damages for “significant pain and suffering, lasting psychological and pecuniary harms, loss of dignity and self-esteem, and invasion of her privacy.”
It also demands Trump apologise.
12 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. He denied all charges and was never prosecuted.
If Trump loses, he will be legally accountable for sexual assault for the first time.
