Amid Legal Onslaught, Trump Faces Writer’s Suit Accusing Him of Rape

NEW YORK — Last year, when New York lawmakers were considering creating a one-year window for sexual abuse victims to sue their long-ago attackers, among the bill’s ardent supporters was E. Jean Carroll.

Carroll, a magazine columnist and author, in 2019 had accused then-President Donald Trump of raping her nearly 25 years before in a Manhattan department store dressing room, publishing the allegation in New York magazine.

She spoke at a news conference at the state Capitol in Albany alongside sexual abuse survivors, and sent passionate letters to Assembly members, calling for the law to be passed.

“I stayed silent for years after I was attacked,” wrote Carroll, “and by staying silent lost my chance to hold my attacker accountable.”

The measure passed, and shortly after midnight Nov. 24, when it took effect, Carroll sued Trump. On Tuesday, that case is scheduled for trial in U.S. 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 Trump, who is running to regain the presidency, and arguing that the suits and investigations are meant to drag him down.

It comes just weeks after Trump’s appearance in Manhattan Supreme Court, where he pleaded not guilty to fraud charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star, and another recent appearance in Manhattan where he was questioned under oath in a civil fraud lawsuit brought by Attorney General Letitia James of New York.

Trump is also facing a criminal investigation by the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney over attempted interference in the 2020 election; by a federal special counsel over his decision to keep sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence, and for his role in the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. He has denied wrongdoing in all the cases.

A cyclone of news coverage followed his arraignment. His history of attacking judges, law enforcement officials and even individual jurors in other matters, has led the judge in 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.

Trump, 76, has denied that he raped Carroll, 79, and has attacked her repeatedly in public statements and on social media, both while in office and after he left. In 2019, he called Carroll’s allegation “totally false” and said he could not have raped her because she was not his “type.”

More recently, in October, in a post on Truth Social, Trump called her case “a complete con job.” He said her accusation was “a Hoax and a lie” and that the alleged rape “never happened.”

Trump is not required to attend the trial, which is expected to last one to two weeks, and Carroll’s lawyers have made it clear they do not intend to call him as a witness, the judge noted in a recent order.

Trump could decide to testify in his own defense under oath — a far different matter than talking in the press and on television. Legal experts said both sides would face hurdles. Decades have passed since the encounter, memories fade and Carroll did not report it to police. But, the experts said, the greater burden will likely fall on lawyers for Trump.

“Their biggest challenge is their client,” said Jennifer L. Keller, a lawyer who represented Kevin Spacey before Kaplan in October, when a jury found Spacey not liable in a suit that accused him of making a sexual advance on a 14-year-old in 1986.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Carroll and insulted her in personal terms. “He appears to be uncoachable, egomaniacal,” Keller said.

“He’s somebody who can stand on a podium in front of a throng of admirers and blast forth with all his insults and dark talk of the imminent Armageddon if he’s not elected,” she said. “But I don’t see how any of that is going to play in a courtroom.”

Carroll’s lawyers face a different challenge, said Ilann M. Maazel, a lawyer who last fall represented a woman awarded $10 million in a Manhattan Supreme Court trial after she sued Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis, accusing him of raping her.

Maazel said defense lawyers often try to undermine victims’ credibility by saying they did not resist or try to escape, or that they did not go to police. But Maazel noted that the victims often feel fear, shame and even denial.

“There are so many reasons survivors do not come forward, but it doesn’t change the fact that they were assaulted,” he said.

Roberta A. Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll, and Joseph Tacopina, a lawyer for Trump, each declined to comment. But in recent court papers, they summed up their cases this way:

“Trump’s sexual assault has caused Carroll to suffer lasting psychological harms, loss of dignity and intimate relationships, and invasion of her privacy,” Carroll’s lawyers wrote.

Moreover, they said, Trump’s Truth Social posting in October defamed her by damaging her reputation and causing her emotional and professional harm.

Trump’s lawyers, in their summary, point to the lack of eyewitnesses or photographic or video evidence, “which is not surprising,” they say, “since this alleged incident never occurred.”

They accuse Carroll of making her rape allegation “to sell a book and for political reasons.” If Trump does not testify, the outcome of Carroll’s case may depend on how she stands up to cross-examination.

The evidence at trial will bear on the narrative offered in Carroll’s lawsuit, which says she visited luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman one evening in the mid-1990s, where she was a regular shopper.

As she was leaving through a revolving side door on 58th Street, Trump entered through the same door, and recognized her, the suit says.

It says the two had met at least once before, and that they traveled in the same New York City media circles. Carroll hosted a daily television show called “Ask E. Jean” on America’s Talking, a cable channel run by Roger Ailes, who went on to run Fox News.

“Hey, you’re that advice lady!” Trump said, according to the lawsuit, and Carroll responded, “Hey, you’re that real estate tycoon!”

According to the lawsuit, Trump said he was at Bergdorf’s to buy a present for “a girl,” and asked Carroll to advise him. Carroll went along, thinking she would get some funny stories out of it.

Eventually, they rode the escalator to the lingerie department, which was uncharacteristically empty, with no sales attendant present, according to the suit.

The absence of shoppers is a point Trump’s lawyers have cited in questioning Carroll’s account.

In the filing this week summarizing each side’s arguments, Trump’s lawyers said, “Plaintiff claims that there were no customers or staff anywhere to be seen immediately before, during and after the alleged incident. Such a notion is implausible given that Bergdorf Goodman is a popular department store located in Manhattan on Fifth Avenue.”

The suit says that in the lingerie department, they noticed a see-through bodysuit in lilac gray. Trump snatched the bodysuit and insisted that Carroll try it on. Trump then grabbed Carroll’s arm, maneuvered her to the dressing room and closed the door behind them, the suit says.

He lunged, pushing her against the wall, bumping her head and putting his mouth on her lips, the suit says. Carroll, according to the suit, shoved him back.

Trump pinned her with his shoulder against the wall again, jammed his hand under her coat dress and pulled down her tights, according to the suit. Then, he forced himself on her.

Carroll’s suit says she tried to stamp on his foot with her high heels; she tried to push him away with one hand, and she finally raised a knee high enough to push him off her. She fled the store onto Fifth Avenue, according to the suit.

Once outside Bergdorf’s, it says, Carroll immediately called a friend, Lisa Birnbach, an author and journalist, telling her what had occurred.

Birnbach begged her friend to go to police, the suit says. Carroll did not want to, the lawsuit says, and implored Birnbach never to disclose what had happened.

Carroll also confided in another friend, Carol Martin, a news anchor in New York. She advised Carroll to tell no one, saying Trump had many lawyers and would “bury you.” Carroll took Martin’s advice, the suit says.

Birnbach and Martin are among the witnesses Carroll has listed in court papers that she may call to testify.

Carroll, the suit says, did not mention the rape again for more than 20 years, before she wrote her account of it and later sued to prove Trump raped her and lied about it.

Carroll’s lawyer has said she will attend court every day.

Trump has not indicated whether he will take the witness stand or even attend the proceedings. His lawyer told the judge recently that Trump “wishes to appear,” but suggested that he might stay away to spare New Yorkers traffic jams, security burdens and other hassles.

His campaign’s website shows that Trump also has other commitments during the trial: On Thursday, he has scheduled an appearance in New Hampshire, an early primary state.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .