Judge Lewis A Kaplan rebukes Donald Trump for innappropriate online comments

Donald Trump has been warned to refrain from publicly commenting on the civil case brought against him by a former magazine columnist who says the former president raped her.

Writer E. Jean Carroll has brought a defamation case against former US President Donald Trump, for allegedly raping her in the 1990s. Picture: AFP.

The judge presiding over the civil trial between former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll and Donald Trump, rebuked the former US President for an “inappropriate” statement on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Shortly before proceedings commenced, Judge Lewis A Kaplan warned Trump’s lawyers that this type of online commentary regarding the case could result in more legal challenges.

The former president is yet to attend the trial, but used his online platform to describe the case as “a made-up scam”.

He also called Carroll’s lawyer “a political operative” and seemed to suggest there had been a DNA issue that had been ruled as inadmissable by Kaplan.

“This is a fraudulent and false story – Witch Hunt!” Trump wrote.

Lawyers for Carroll, who claims Trump previously defamed her by publicly calling her case a “hoax”, “scam”, “lie” and “complete con job”, brought these new statements to Kaplan.

“What seems to be the case is that your client is basically endeavouring, certainly, to speak to his quote-unquote public, but, more troubling, the jury in this case about stuff that has no business being spoken about,” the judge told Trump’s lawyers:

He described Trump’s post “a public statement that, on the face of it, seems entirely inappropriate”.

Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina said he would ask Trump to refrain from further posting about the case, but noted jurors were told not permitted to follow any news or online commentary about the case.

“I hope you’re more successful,” Kaplan said, adding that Trump “may or may not be tampering with a new source of potential liability”.

Writer E. Jean Carroll testified that she could “still feel the pain” from when “Donald Trump raped her”. Picture: AFP

Carroll testified that she could “still feel the pain” from when “Donald Trump raped (her)” in a New York department store.

A lawyer for Mr Trump said the plaintiff, E. Jean Carroll was motivated by money and fame as opening arguments kicked off the much-anticipated proceedings.

Ms Carroll, 79, has alleged that Mr Trump, 76, sexually assaulted her in a changing room at the luxury Bergdorf Goodman department store on Fifth Ave in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. The building is located opposite Trump Tower.

The former journalist took the stand on the second day of trial in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday. Ms Carroll’s voice broke as she told jurors she always wondered “why I walked in” to the department store changing room — where she alleged Mr Trump “shoved” and pinned her against a wall, pulled her tights down and raped her.

“As I am sitting here today, I can still feel the pain,” Ms Carroll said.

“I always think back to why I walked in there … to get myself in that situation.”

She told the court she has not had a romantic relationship or sexual intercourse with anyone since the alleged rape. Asked why, responded: “The short answer is, because Donald Trump raped me.”

Ms Carroll said she didn’t report the alleged incident to authorities at the time because she “would never report something like this”.

“Roger Ailes would have fired me,” she added,

“He was a friend of Donald Trump.”

“I was ashamed. I thought it was my fault.”

Ms Carroll described Mr Trump as “vile” and said she believed him to be “evil … because he raped me”.

The court heard that Ms Carroll suffers from intrusive thoughts and visions as a result of the alleged attack.

“I thought for a minute I was going to die, that I couldn’t breathe,” she said.

Ms Carroll told jurors that a picture of Mr Trump would come into her mind when she was cooking pasta and she’d feel his fingers “jammed up” inside of her.

Mr Trump was not in court for her testimony and also did not attend the start of the proceedings on Tuesday.

Writer E. Jean Carroll has brought a defamation case against former US President Donald Trump, for allegedly raping her in the 1990s. Picture: AFP

Earlier, the court heard that the attack came after Mr Trump playfully asked her for advice on buying a women’s lingerie gift.

“The moment they were inside (the dressing room) everything changed. Suddenly nothing was fun. Mr Trump was almost twice her size,” Ms Carroll’s lawyer Shawn Crowley told the Manhattan court on Tuesday local time.

Ms Carroll, a former columnist for Elle magazine, claims he then ”ridiculed” her with defamatory comments after she went public with the allegations years later.

Mr Trump, who is facing a slew of legal woes that threaten to derail his 2024 run for a second term in the White House, denies the allegations.

On the first day of the trial, Ms Carroll arrived at Manhattan Federal courthouse flanked by lawyers, and wearing a cream-coloured coat, sunglasses and carrying a maroon briefcase as her supporters chanted “We believe E. Jean Carroll.”

Demonstrators outside of court picketed with signs saying “Trump is a rapist,” “Grand Old Predators” and “Lies have consequences.”

Before jury selection began, Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is overseeing the trial, told both sides “please refrain from making any statements that are likely to incite violence and civil unrest”, The NY Post reports.

The panel was selected from a pool of about 100 prospective jurors in about two hours on Tuesday. Lawyers for Mr Trump and Ms Carroll are expected to deliver opening statements later in the day.

The start of the trial comes just weeks after his historic arraignment on criminal charges related to a hush-money payment made to a porn star just before the 2016 election.

Ms Carroll alleges Mr Trump attacked and sexually assaulted her in a dressing room of a luxury department store in the 1990s. Picture: AFP

Ms Carroll first made the allegation in an excerpt from her book published by New York Magazine in 2019.

Mr Trump responded then by saying he never met Ms Carroll, that she was “not my type” and that she was “totally lying.”

Ms Carroll first sued Mr Trump for defamation in 2019 but was unable to include the rape claim because the statute of limitations for the alleged offence had expired.

But a new law took effect in November last year in New York that gives redress to victims of sexual assault decades after attacks may have occurred.

It gave sexual assault victims in the state a one-year window to sue their alleged abusers even when the abuse occurred long ago.

Lawyers for Ms Carroll filed a new suit that accused Mr Trump of battery, “when he forcibly raped and groped” her.

It also included defamation for a post that Mr Trump made on his Truth Social platform where he denied the alleged rape and referred to Ms Carroll as a “complete con job.”

““He went on the attack. He ridiculed her. He destroyed her,” Crowley said.

Joe Tacopina, representing Trump, said there was no evidence of the assault and that Carroll was “abusing the system for money, for political reasons, and for status.”

Former US President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower in New York City. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for psychological harm, pain and suffering, loss of dignity, and damage to her reputation.

Mr Trump is not expected to testify as Ms Carroll’s lawyers have said they do not intend to call him to the witness stand.

The trial is likely to last between one to two weeks.

Two women are expected to testify during the trial that Ms Carroll told them about the alleged attack shortly after she said it occurred. Two other women are expected to testify that Mr Trump sexually assaulted them, claims that he denies, as Ms Carroll’s legal team tries to establish a pattern of conduct.

The judge has also agreed to allow excerpts of the infamous Access Hollywood tape from 2005 in which Mr Trump is overheard bragging to then-host Billy Bush about groping women.

The judge told prospective jurors on Tuesday that he was looking to select people who are “willing and able to decide this case in a manner that is fair and impartial,” no matter what they may know about those involved.

“The name of the game here is utter fairness and impartiality,” Judge Kaplan said. “The job of the jury will be to decide what did or didn’t happen at the department store, whether Ms. Carroll was or wasn’t raped” -and whether she should be compensated and whether defamation occurred, the judge said.

Mr Trump became the first sitting or former president to have ever been charged with a crime when he was arrested in the hush-money case earlier this month.

He is also being investigated over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the southern state of Georgia, his alleged mishandling of classified documents taken from the White House, and his involvement in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

– with AFP

Originally published as Judge Lewis A Kaplan rebukes Donald Trump for innappropriate online comments