New York jury selection begins in the sexual assault and defamation civil suit E. Jean Carroll filed in November 2022 under Trump’s New York felony charges
The measure passed, and shortly after midnight on Nov. 24, when it took effect, Ms. Carroll sued Mr. Trump. On Tuesday, that case is scheduled for trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan, where, after years of accusations and angry denials traded in articles, interviews and social media, a jury will be charged with determining the truth.
The proceeding will take place amid a barrage of legal cases aimed at Mr. Trump, who is running to regain the presidency, and arguing that the suits and investigations are meant to drag him down. It comes just a short time after Mr. Trump appeared in Manhattan Supreme Court, where he pleaded not guilty to fraud charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star.
His indictment received a lot of coverage by the news. His history of attacking judges, law enforcement officials and even individual jurors in other matters, has led the judge in Ms. Carroll’s case, Lewis A. Kaplan, to take steps to protect jurors who might fear retribution by the former president’s supporters: He ordered that they be kept anonymous, even from the lawyers and parties.
Carroll’s lawyers have said they may produce a number of witnesses to bolster their client’s claims, including Bergdorf Goodman staffers, two friends in whom Carroll confided not long after the alleged rape, and two women who have publicly claimed Trump sexually assaulted them, Natasha Stoynoff and Jessica Leeds.
NEW YORK — Jury selection begins Tuesday in the sexual assault and defamation civil suit brought against former President Donald Trump by the writer E. Jean Carroll. Late last year, Carroll accused Trump of “causing significant pain and suffering, lasting psychological harms, loss of dignity, and invasion of her privacy.” Trump’s lawyers argue that the statute is against the due process, and that the defamation claim is baseless.
Trump’s attorneys are going to argue that there is nothing to the 29-year old claims, and thatCarroll was motivated by the potential for book sales.
The second suit was filed in November 2022, under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year window for people alleging sexual assault to bring civil claims older than would otherwise be allowable under the statute of limitations. The second suit carries a defamation claim similar to the first one. Because Trump was no longer president at the time the claim was filed, it has proceeded quickly to trial.
The excerpts from the “Access Hollywood” video, in which Donald Trump bragged about sexually attacking women, may be shown to jurors by the Carroll team.
Trump’s team says it may call Dr. Edgar Nace, a psychiatrist, and Trump himself. It is unclear whether the former President will attend the trial if he does not take the stand.
Carroll is asking for unspecified damages, and demanding that Trump retract an allegedly defamatory statement about her. Damages could run to tens of millions of dollars.