‘Donald Trump raped me’, author E Jean Carroll testifies

Advice columnist E Jean Carroll told a New York jury that former US President Donald Trump raped her and then “shattered my reputation” by denying it as she testified in her civil lawsuit seeking damages for battery.

Donald Trump allegedly sexually assaulted her in a New York department store changing room in 1996 and accused her of lying when she went public with her accusations in a book.

E Jean Carroll said, “I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation. I’m here to try and get my life back.”

Donald Trump has denied the accusations. Ahead of E Jean Carroll’s testimony, the judged warned Donald Trump against posting on his social media site, Truth Social, where he called E Jean Carroll’s accusations a “made-up SCAM” and a “witch-hunt”. The judge said Donald Trump’s post “entirely inappropriate” and warned they could become “a potential source of liability” for him.

E Jean Carroll then described running into Donald Trump as she was leaving the Bergdorf Goodman luxury department store.

“He said, ‘I need to buy a gift, come help me’. I was delighted. He picked up a fur hat and he was petting it like a cat or a dog. Then he said, ‘I know, lingerie.’ He led the way to the escalator,” she told the jury.

Calling Donald Trump “very talkative” and herself as “absolutely enchanted”, she said, “I was delighted to go to lingerie with him. He was very funny.” Donald Trump “snatched up” a grey-blue bodysuit in the lingerie department and demanded that she should try it on.

“I had no intention of putting it on. I said, ‘You put it on, it’s your colour,’” she told the court, adding, “Donald Trump was being very light. It was very joshing and very funny. I was flirting the whole time, probably.”

But the mood changed rapidly, she said, after she entered the dressing room.

“He immediately shut the door and shoved me up against the wall. He shoved me so hard my head banged. I was extremely confused. I pushed back and he thrust me back against the wall again, banging my head again,” she said, adding, “He leaned down and pulled down my tights. I was pushing him back. It was quite clear I didn’t want anything else to happen.”

“My whole reason for being alive at that moment was to get out of the room,” she said but she could not escape Donald Trump’s grip.

He raped me, E Jean Carroll said.

“It left me unable to ever have a romantic life again,” she said explaining that she found it impossible to even smile at a man she was attracted to after the alleged rape.