The writer E Jean Carroll accuses the former president of the United States of defaming her in 2019 by denying having attacked her in the dressing room of a department store.
Former US President Donald Trump arrived at a New York court to defend himself for the second time against charges of defaming writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of rape.
Trump, who has said he wants to testify in the civil trial, sat two tables behind Carroll, who accuses him of defaming her in 2019 by denying attacking her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan.
Carroll, 80, is seeking at least $10 million in damages.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is overseeing the case, told potential jurors on Tuesday that they would only have to consider how much Trump should pay Carroll in damages, not whether the alleged assault took place or whether Trump lied to him. regard.
He added that the trial is expected to last three to five days.
Trump has portrayed himself as a victim of political persecution and said Kaplan should dismiss the case.
“Judge Kaplan should immediately put an end to this entire corrupt and corrupt attack of election interference directed at me by Joe Biden,” he said on social media.
“I should do it for America.”
Trump has so far pleaded not guilty in four criminal cases that could land him in prison before the November presidential election, including two that accuse him of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
He is also a defendant in at least two other civil cases. But Trump already lost a defamation case against Carroll.
In May of last year, a jury ordered Trump to pay the former Elle columnist $5 million for sexually abusing her during the meeting and for defaming her.
Trump has said he did not know Carroll and that she made up the meeting to sell her memoirs. He is also appealing the $5 million award.
Kaplan, who also presided over that case, said he has barred Trump from arguing that he did not defame or sexually assault Carroll or that she fabricated her story.
In recent weeks, Trump has escalated his attacks on Carroll, even saying she didn't know the decade of their meeting.
He also called Kaplan “terribly, biased and irrationally angry.”
Trump may face an uphill fight to avoid significant additional damages due to Kaplan's pretrial rulings.
These include prohibiting Trump from suggesting that he did not rape Carroll, as New York criminal law defines the term, because the first jury did not find that Trump committed rape.
Kaplan ruled that because Trump used his fingers in the attack, Carroll's rape allegation was “substantially true.”
Trump also cannot discuss DNA evidence or Carroll's sexual activities, or suggest that Democrats are funding his case. Carroll is a Democrat.
And as was the case in the first trial, jurors will be able to watch the 2005 Access Hollywood video in which Trump graphically described the ability of famous people like him to have sex with beautiful women.
Trump did not retract his comments when asked about them in a 2022 deposition. Kaplan has said the video could offer “useful insight into Mr. Trump's state of mind” toward Carroll.
Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, assured Kaplan on Sunday that she was “well aware” of the court's rulings “and the strict limits placed on her testimony.”
