New York | The day after his big victory in Iowa, Donald Trump is expected for a new trial in New York on Tuesday and is being sued for the second time in civil court for libel by an author who already convicted him of sexual assault in 2023.
• Also read: Donald Trump wins the Republican primary in Iowa
Donald Trump, 77, was more of a favorite than ever in the Republican primary after comfortably winning the Midwest state caucus. He announced Thursday his intention to personally defend himself in the courtroom against former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll, 80.
If he attends the opening of the debates on Tuesday, as several American media outlets said on Monday evening, he will continue his campaign the same day in New Hampshire, the next state to vote for the primaries, where his supporters are waiting for him at the end of the day.
“I have never seen this woman in my life (…) I have no idea who she is,” Donald Trump reiterated on Thursday about the writer, whom he continued to call a liar or “crazy” despite his resounding politeness In May, he was ordered to pay $5 million for sexual assault in 1996 and defamation in 2022.
The plaintiff's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, wrote to the judge expressing concern that the Republican would turn the hearing into a “circus” and “sow chaos.”
The wealthy 77-year-old businessman, the subject of at least six civil and criminal lawsuits as of Tuesday, turned each of his arraignments or appearances into a political platform, multiplying vicious invective against judges and prosecutors whom he accuses of leading a “witch hunt.” “to prevent him from winning the presidential election in November.
“They’re not targeting me. “It’s you,” he announces in capital letters on his website and addresses his supporters.
Act 2
The trial, which begins Tuesday with jury selection and is expected to last several days, is a second act of sorts.
On May 9, 2023, twelve jurors in federal civil court in Manhattan unanimously decided that Donald Trump was responsible for a “sexual assault” on E. Jean Carroll in a New York department store dressing room in 1996 and that he had also defamed her in October 2022.
The jury sentenced Donald Trump, who appealed and was never prosecuted in the case, to $5 million in compensatory damages.
But E. Jean Carroll also filed a defamation lawsuit in June 2019 over Donald Trump's previous statements after he made rape allegations for the first time in a book.
The then-President of the United States claimed that the author, who was “not his type,” invented everything to “sell a new book.” The trial had been delayed by procedural disputes, but a second trial was still scheduled.
In a sign of tensions surrounding the Donald Trump trials, Judge Lewis Kaplan (who is not related to attorney Roberta Kaplan) imposed juror anonymity. He also warned that “the only issue at issue in the trial will be the harm caused to Ms. Carroll” by the comments, which he already considers “defamatory,” “false” and “malicious.”
E. Jean Carroll is seeking at least $10 million in damages for her moral and professional harm.
In the middle of the primary campaign, the trial will once again raise questions about the behavior of Donald Trump towards women, who has been repeatedly accused of sexual assault but never criminally convicted.