The former cheerleader with ‘a ton of guts’ taking on Donald Trump

New York: The morning after testifying in harrowing detail about allegedly being raped by Donald Trump in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store, E. Jean Carroll logged on to Twitter to find an onslaught of attacks.

Slut. Liar. Ugly. Old.

Author E. Jean Carroll arrives at federal court in New York on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.Credit: Bloomberg

As she recounted the messages to a jury during her trial, the US author looked emotional, then paused for a minute.

Despite it all, she told the court: “I couldn’t be more proud to be here.”

Three decades since the alleged attack that she says changed her life, Carroll’s civil trial is a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement that was set in motion by the sexual predation of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Trump, after all, is a former president and the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 US election. He has also been accused of sexual harassment or assault by more than two dozen women since the 1970s – all allegations he has denied – but this is the first time a jury has been asked to determine a claim in court.

If the jury finds against him, one of the most powerful men in America would be liable for battery (in connection with the rape) and defamation, for attacking Carroll’s reputation and accusing her of concocting a “hoax” after she went public with her claim in 2019.

Donald Trump campaigning in New Hampshire during the trial.Credit: AP

And while Trump would inevitably appeal against such a verdict, it would nonetheless mark the first time he has been held accountable in court for his alleged treatment of women, adding to his string of other legal woes as the race for the White House intensifies.

For Trump, who says he never knew Carroll and that she is “not my type”, the trial is an example of another witch hunt.

For Carroll, 79, who was raised in an era where women were taught to “grin and bear it”, it was the chance to speak her truth.

As she told the jury in her opening statement: “I am here to try to get my life back.”

‘The coolest woman around’

The seeds of this trial were sown in 2017, when Carroll had planned to embark on a book project in which she would collect the stories of trailblazing women across the US.

But as the revelations about Weinstein’s sexual misconduct emerged, it prompted her to confront her own story, too.

The flood of sexual abuse allegations against Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein sparked the #MeToo movement.Credit: AP

A former beauty queen and Miss Cheerleader USA, Carroll spent years as a socialite in the elite media circles of Manhattan. She was known for her “Ask E. Jean” advice column in Elle magazine; she wrote for Saturday Night Live; and her work featured in publications such as Playboy and Rolling Stone.

“She was the coolest woman journalist around – daring, had a ton of guts, and was as funny as the guys,” Sex and the City creator Candace Bushnell told USA Today in 2019. “There really wasn’t and isn’t anyone else like her.”

But Carroll says her life was forever altered during a chance encounter with Trump in the mid-1990s at Bergdorf Goodman, an upmarket department store not far from Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

“He came through the door and he said, ‘Hey, you are that advice lady,’ ” she testified, to which she had replied: “Hey, you’re that real estate tycoon.”

The Bergdorf Goodman store In New York City, where E. Jean Carroll allages Donald Trump raped her.Credit: iStock

Trump allegedly then asked Carroll to help him pick out a gift for another woman. She had happily obliged and they made their way to the lingerie section, where he found a bodysuit that he asked her to try on, Carroll claims.

She joked that he should try on the bodysuit, thinking it would be funny, but when they got into the dressing room, he immediately shut the door and forced himself on her, she says.

Carroll says that at one point, she tried to push Trump back, but he shoved her against the wall, banging her head. He had then used his “whole weight” to hold her there and pulled down her tights.

“His fingers went into my vagina, which was extremely painful,” Carroll has said. After that, he had inserted his penis. She says she has not had an intimate relationship since.

‘There’s something wrong with her’

Trump, meanwhile, has not presented a defence case. His only expected witness, a psychiatrist, did not testify last week due to health reasons, and the former president has not attended at all, which legal experts say is a risk.

Says Columbia Law School professor John Coffee: “My view is that if a jury sees the defendant not even showing enough respect for the process – or for the jury – to turn up, it’s going to create some resentment. They could really hit him with very high damages.”

The strategy of Trump and his legal team has instead been to discredit Carroll as a “whack job” who fabricated the story for politics, money and fame.

“She’s a liar and a sick person in my opinion,” Trump said in a video deposition taken last October and played to the jury last week. “There’s something wrong with her.”

Marla Maples and Donald Trump at the Indy 500 race in 1996.Credit: BRIAN CLEARY

He also says in the deposition that Carroll was not his type, but he undercut his own defence when he mistook a photograph of his accuser for his second wife, Marla Maples.

“It’s Marla,” he said, before being told the blonde woman in the photo he was examining was Carroll. “Is that Carroll? Because it’s very blurry.”

Another telling moment came when Trump was played the now infamous Access Hollywood video that was leaked the month before he beat Hillary Clinton at the 2016 election. In it, he is overheard telling TV host Billy Bush about taking a married woman furniture shopping before he “moved in on her like a bitch”. He then bragged about groping women without their consent.

“When you’re a star, they let you do it,” he said, unaware that there was a hot mic. “Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Asked by Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan if this was true, Trump replied: “Well, if you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately – or fortunately.”

‘I’m not a screamer’

Carroll’s cross-examination was also astonishing to watch. There were gaps in her evidence – such as the exact date of the alleged rape or the fact that there were no witnesses or security footage – but the optics were stark.

Here was the once gregarious writer on one side, still impeccably dressed but frail and occasionally fragile, facing off against Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, a hard-nosed Brooklyn litigator with the frame of a heavyweight boxer, who was seemingly asserting what a rape victim should look like.

Joe Tacopina, a member of Trump’s legal team.Credit: Bloomberg

Why didn’t she call the police? Who did she tell? Did she shower when she got home or seek medical treatment? Did she photograph her injuries? And why didn’t she scream?

“I’m not a screamer,” Carroll replied at one point. “You can’t beat me up for not screaming.”

Tacopina: “I’m not beating up on you, I’m asking questions.”

Carroll: “I’m telling you. He raped me whether I screamed or not.”

Deliberations begin

Carroll is one of at least 26 women who have accused Trump of sexual harassment or assault since the 1970s.

Two others testified in her defence during the trial: Jessica Leeds, who alleged that Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight in 1979, and Natasha Stoynoff, a former People magazine staff writer who said Trump pinned her against a wall and forcibly kissed her at his Florida mansion when she went there in 2005 to interview him and his wife, Melania.

Trump has denied both allegations. His fate in this trial will be determined this week when the jury is expected to begin deliberations as early as Monday afternoon (Tuesday AEST).

Outside the court, opinion is divided on what the verdict might be and whether it will make a difference to his political fortunes.

“We’ve lost our minds in this country,” says Laurie Arbeiter, who is standing near the entrance holding a sign that says “Grab Trump before he strikes again.”

“How is it that a man like this makes it to the most powerful office under one of the most militarised countries in the world? And to think: he could make a comeback because he gets convicted, by arguing that he’s the victim.”

As if on a cue, a black ute slows down beside her.

“You can hold up all the signs you like,” yells the driver from his window. “I’m not even a Trump fan – but he’s going to be our next president.”

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