Factbox: Lawsuit against Donald Trump by writer who accuses him of rape

E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, is suing former U.S. President Donald Trump for rape.

TRUMP RAPE
Trump allegedly sexually abused Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in late 1995 or early 1996.

She asked Trump, who called her “that advice lady,” for help buying a gift for another woman.

Carroll said Trump “maneuvered” her into the dressing room, slammed the door, placed her against a wall, pulled down her tights, and penetrated her before she escaped. She reported a two- to three-minute onslaught.

Carroll told another author and a local TV news caster about the alleged rape, but not police.

After several women accused Harvey Weinstein of rape, igniting the #MeToo movement, she stated she owed her readers “the truth.”

Trump denies raping Carroll.

Writer files civil suits
Carroll revealed Trump’s claimed attack in New York magazine in June 2019, before of her memoir’s release.

Trump, then president, told a White House reporter that the rape never happened and Carroll was “not my type.”

November 2019 saw Carroll suing Trump for defamation. Case pending.

Trump denied on Truth Social in October 2022, after leaving the White House.

Trump labeled the “Ms. Bergdorf Goodman case” a “complete con job,” “hoax,” “lie,” and “complete Scam” and stated he had never met Carroll and that she was “not my type!”

Carroll sued Trump again for slander in November 2022.

She added a battery claim under New York’s new Adult Survivors Act, which gives adults a year to sue their alleged abusers even if statutes of limitations have elapsed.

Deposed Trump called Carroll a liar. He also mistook Carroll’s photo for Marla Maples, his wife at the time of the alleged rape.

Trump need not attend trial.
Trump need not attend the trial. His lawyers said Trump wants to attend but may not due to heavy traffic and strict security.

Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner, will campaign in New Hampshire on Thursday during the trial.

Carroll’s attorneys won’t summon Trump as a witness.

Carroll’s friends Lisa Birnbach and Carol Martin and Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, who allege Trump attacked them, may testify. Trump denies them.

Because Trump fans may harass jurors, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered juror anonymity.

He also said Trump had “repeatedly” assaulted courts, judges, law enforcement, and individual jurors, including the grand jury foreperson investigating if Trump swayed the 2020 Georgia race.