(New York) “I am here because Donald Trump raped me”: the author and former American columnist E. Jean Carroll delivered heavy accusations against the former President of the United States on Wednesday, who refutes them, in a civil trial in New York where she seeks compensation.
On the second day of this trial in Manhattan federal court, E. Jean Carroll, 79, spoke in a calm and serious voice, in front of the nine citizens drawn by lot to determine whether Donald Trump has it or not. assaulted in the mid-1990s, in a fitting room of the New York luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman.
“I’m here,” she said, “because Donald Trump raped me.”
Then, in a stony silence, the former columnist of the magazine She continued: “And when I wrote on the subject [dans un livre en 2019], he said that did not happen. He lied and shattered my reputation”.
“I am here to resume the course of my life,” she added.
For more than an hour, the writer, elegant, distinguished, with slightly sunken features, recounted how “such a funny New York scene” – the chance meeting with Donald Trump at the entrance to a department store, then a few jokes in the shelves – turned into a nightmare in the dressing room of the lingerie department at 6e stage.
According to her account, the businessman and all-New York celebrity at the time recognizes her because she writes a column in She, “Ask E. Jean”, and invites him in a very playful tone to help him choose a gift. In the lingerie department, Donald Trump grabs an “undergarment”.
Mme Carroll still cannot explain more than 25 years after the alleged facts how she was able to follow him into the cabin.
The rest, she gave a testimony without detour.
She claims that Mr. Trump pushed her against the wall, pinned her down, then pulled down her pantyhose and penetrated her with “his fingers in [son] vagina”, then her gender.
The scene lasted “a few minutes”.
“I know people have been through a lot worse, but that made me unable to find a love life again,” testified E. Jean Carroll.
Why did it take more than 20 years to come out of silence? “I was afraid of Donald Trump […] I was ashamed […] I thought it was my fault”.
The former president of the United States, who is not on criminal trial, was not present on Tuesday and Wednesday and is not expected to appear in civil court.
But his lawyers should submit E. Jean Carroll to a tight cross-examination.
On Tuesday, one of them, Joe Tacopina, had portrayed her as a storyteller hungry for money and recognition.