When the electoral climate warms up in the United States, with the announcement of Joe Biden to run for re-election, Donald Trump –his most possible rival– faces another trial in New York starting this Tuesday: this time for rape.
The claim was filed by E. Jean Carroll before a federal court in New York. The former columnist for Elle magazine claims that Trump raped her in the fitting room of a luxury department store mid 1990s.
While Donald Trump was campaigning for the presidency of the United States and serving as head of government, more than a dozen women publicly accused him of sexual assault and harassment. Trump rejects all of those allegations, most of which never made it to court. None of the cases have gone to trial, but That is about to change.
The judicial process began this Tuesday, with jury selection.
Carroll’s civil suit took a winding road to court. Now it comes at a time when Trump try to return to the White House amid a series of legal problems, including a recent indictment on charges of altering accounting records to hide a payment to a porn actress to silence her allegations that she had extramarital sex with Trump.
Here’s a look at the case and some key takeaways:
What is the case for rape?
Carroll claims a chance meeting with Trump at the store Bergdorf Goodman it suddenly turned into an act of sexual violence in 1995 or 1996. According to her complaint, Trump took her to a locker room after they joked about trying on a body-hugging suit, then pushed her against the wall and entered her while she was trying to get free.
said finally she hit him with her knee and hastily escaped from the store. Two of Carroll’s friends have said that she told them about the alleged attack shortly after it happened. She never reported to the police or anyone more until he narrated his story in a biographical text and in an excerpt published in a magazine in 2019.
What is Trump’s version?
What nothing ever happened. “She says that I did something to her that never happened. There was nothing,” Trump said when Carroll’s lawyers questioned him under oath last October.
He denies that he even met her in the store, and has accused her of make up the story to sell your book.
When his account was first published, Trump said he didn’t even know who she was, downplaying a photo of the two of them interacting with their respective spouses at a social event in 1987.
When shown the photo again during questioning last October, Trump mistook Carroll for his ex-wife. Marla Maples.
His former ex-wife, the late Ivana Trump, is pictured.
Are there witnesses, videos or forensic evidence?
Carroll’s lawyers point out that there were no witnesses of the alleged assault, and if there was ever any security video, it was long gone.
For years, Carroll has tried to run an analysis of Trump’s DNA to compare it with a sample of male genetic material found in the dress he says he was wearing that day and that never washed.
His lawyers fought long to get his request for a sample fulfilled until last February, when They offered a deal: to refute her accusations, he would give the sample if her lawyers provided the full DNA report on the dress.
The judge presiding over the case said it was already too late, so the jury will not hear anything about the DNA or the dress.
Will Trump be present at the trial?
Your presence is not required and it is unlikely that you will attend. Lawyers for the former president have said he wants to be there, but the security requirements for his attendance would be a problem for the city and the court.
The judge, for his part, has expressed confidence that Trump can be afforded protection in the lower Manhattan courthouse, where strong security is already in place.
Even if Trump doesn’t show up, jurors will get their first-hand account by watching video of the interrogation from last October. Meanwhile, Carroll plans to show up every day and take the stand, according to his lawyers.
Is there any possibility of criminal prosecution?
No. The deadline for filing criminal charges expired long ago time.
So why is the civil case coming to court now?
It’s complicated. When Carroll first issued his indictment, the time to file a rape lawsuit had expired. But after Trump responded to the accusations of him by saying that she’s “not my type” and that he was “totally lying,” Carroll interjected a lawsuit for defamation against him in 2019.
That case moved slowly as Trump’s legal team fought him in a variety of ways, including moving from state court to federal court and claiming that Trump’s statements were part of his job as president, an argument that could have undone the accusation of defamation.
Now the courts are weighing that issue. But in the meantime, New York gave people the opportunity to file lawsuits for allegations of sexual abuse from many years ago.
Carroll was one of the first to do so. (However, her case remained in federal court.) And Trump has continued to publicly describe Carroll as a liar, what has become the basis of a new defamation plea which will also be addressed during the trial.
What does Carroll want?
A retraction and unspecified compensation.
What about the other women who accused Trump?
Two of them have scheduled testify in the Carroll case. Jurors are also expected to listen to the off-camera recording of 2005 “Access Hollywood” in which Trump crudely boasts that fame has given him carte blanche to kiss and touch women.
Not involved in the case are two other women who sued Trump after publicly accusing him of making unwanted sexual advances. These cases were dismissed or dismissed.
Associated Press
ap
2023-04-25 15:05:33
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