By Michael R. Sisak and Jennifer Peltz | Associated Press
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s lawyer went on the attack Thursday against writer E. Jean Carroll’s claims that she was raped by Trump in the 1990s, using cross examination to try to discredit the longtime advice columnist before a jury at a New York civil trial.
Attorney Joe Tacopina began his questioning in Manhattan federal court by citing Carroll’s own words as he asked her to acknowledge that she has described her account as odd.
“Certain parts of this story are difficult to conceive of,” she said.
Tacopina used the word “supposedly” in reference to her rape claim, drawing an immediate and stern correction from the writer.
“Not supposedly. I was raped,” she said.
A day earlier, she began her testimony, telling how a chance encounter with Trump at a Bergdorf Goodman store in spring 1996 turned from flirtatious frivolity in the desolate lingerie section into a violent sexual attack in a dressing room. Carroll said Trump slammed her against a wall, yanked down her tights and raped her before she kneed him and fled.
Trump, 76, is not expected to appear at the trial. He has repeatedly claimed the encounter never happened, that he doesn’t know Carroll and that she’s not his “type.”
Carroll, 79, said Wednesday that she sued Trump “because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen.”
Her lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and a retraction of Trump’s allegedly defamatory comments. She never pursued criminal charges.
Thursday’s court session began late after lawyers huddled with the judge in chambers, discussing legal issues that were not immediately revealed.
On Wednesday, Trump launched a counterattack against the trial on social media, telling followers on his Truth Social platform that the case was “a made up SCAM” and that her lawyer is a political operative.
The outburst drew a rebuke and a warning from Judge…
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