Jury selection began Tuesday in a civil case against former President Donald Trump over allegations that he raped writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s in a department store dressing room. He denies the allegations.
In a 2019 book, Carroll wrote about the alleged incident. She said she told two friends at the time of the assault, which she said occurred in 1995 or 1996, but that she declined at the time to press charges. The statute of limitations had passed for criminal charges to be filed by the time she went public with her claims.
Under prior state law, she would not have been able to file a civil lawsuit either, but New York lawmakers passed a bill in 2022 opening a temporary, one-year window for sexual assault survivors to file civil suits against their alleged assailants, no matter how much time had passed, per The Associated Press.
Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine, is seeking damages for pain and suffering and defamation, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In response to Carroll’s claims, Trump has said he doesn’t know her, that it “never happened” and that she “isn’t his type,” according to Politico.
Trump’s lawyers say he is unlikely to attend the trial, which will take place in Manhattan federal court, according to The Associated Press.
This is just one of many legal challenges facing the former president, including possible criminal charges in Georgia over his alleged interference in the 2020 election.
Former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll walks into Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, in New York. Jury selection is scheduled to begin in a trial over Carroll’s claim that former President Donald Trump raped her nearly three decades ago in a department store dressing room.
Brittainy Newman, Associated Press