Trump lawyer claims rape accuser E. Jean Carroll ‘achieved fame, if not the fortune’ by linking herself to former president during cross-examination

Former President Donald Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, claimed today that E. Jean Carroll gained “fame, if not fortune” by accusing him of sexually assaulting her.

Last year, a jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.

She is now being cross-examined as part of a trial to determine what damages Trump owes her for defamatory comments in which he branded her a “liar” and called the allegations a “scam” and a “hoax.”

On the second day of cross-examination, Trump’s attorney Alina Habba tried to prove that Carroll had not suffered from the former president’s comments, asking her, “So your reputation is better today in many ways, isn’t it Ms. Carroll?” ?’

Carroll responded, “No, my status has been lowered. I am participating in this process to restore my own reputation and status.’

Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba tried to prove that her reputation and earnings had not been damaged by comments made by the former president

E. Jean Carroll enters Manhattan Federal Court in second civil trial after accusing former US President Donald Trump of raping her decades ago

Trump, who attended the first two days of the trial, was not in the courtroom when he went to Florida to attend his mother-in-law’s funeral.

He raged earlier this week after the judge refused to postpone the funeral trial.

On Sunday, Trump said at a rally: “My wife’s mother, who was incredible and a great beauty inside and out – incredible woman – just passed away.

“And my wife was pretty devastated about that. “I have a trial going on, a total bogus trial,” he added. ‘And we asked the judge if I could take a day off for a funeral for my mother-in-law, who was also very close to me.’

“And he said, ‘No.’ These are animals. Can you imagine.’

During the days he was present, he had been disruptive, with Judge Lewis A. Kaplan scolding him after an attorney for Carroll complained that he was grumbling about the case so loudly that the jurors could hear him.

The judge told the Republican front-runner for president that he might have to consider throwing him out of the trial if he continued making comments loud enough for jurors to hear.

Carroll’s attorney claimed he made comments including “it’s a witch hunt” and “it’s really a scam.”

On Thursday, Trump attorney Alina Habba confronted Carroll about a series of vile tweets that Trump supporters sent her after she read excerpts from her memoir in a June 2019 magazine article in which she revealed her claims that Trump raped her.

Habba tried to show jurors that social media messages that Carroll blamed on Trump’s statements were sent before his statements were released.

“They follow Donald Trump. They want to emulate him,” Habba said. “They stand up for the man they admire.”

At one point, the judge closed the questioning, saying it was “just repetitive.”

Trump did not attend Thursday’s trial because he was in Florida for his mother-in-law’s funeral

Trump had a falling out with the judge in the case after he refused to postpone the funeral trial

The trial, which began this week, concerns only what a jury believes Carroll owes for statements he made as president in June 2019 after excerpts from Carroll’s memoir detailing her claims against Trump were published in a magazine .

Carroll has testified that her life changed dramatically after Trump branded her a liar, claimed he never met her and claimed she made her claims against him to promote her book and harm him politically.

She said she lives in fear, sleeps with a loaded gun next to her and wishes she could increase her security, but she doesn’t have enough money.

Last May, a jury in the same courtroom awarded Carroll $5 million in damages after concluding that Trump sexually assaulted her in the spring of 1996 at a Bergdorf Goodman store across the street from Trump Tower and then had defamed with statements in October 2022.

In that verdict, jurors rejected Carroll’s claim that she was raped and found Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse.

The judge said the jury’s decision was based on “the narrow, technical meaning” of rape in New York criminal law and that in his analysis the verdict did not mean that Carroll “failed to prove that Mr. Trump” raped’. her the way many people usually understand the word “rape.”

Trump was not present at that trial and recently said during the campaign that his lawyer had advised him to stay away.

Trump was animated during his two days in court this week, shaking his head at testimony he disagreed with, passing notes to his lawyers and speaking to them while jurors were in the room.

E. Jean Carroll enters Manhattan federal court for the second day of cross-examination in the trial

Judge Lewis Kaplan was forced to berate Trump at one point the previous day and threatened to throw him out of the courtroom

During his confrontation with the judge on Wednesday, Trump responded to the threat to kick him out of the courtroom with: “I would love it.”

That prompted the judge to say: ‘I’m sure of that. Apparently you have no control over yourself in these circumstances.’

After leaving the courthouse on Wednesday, Trump told reporters that Kaplan, a Bill Clinton appointee, was “an annoying judge” and a “Trump-hating man” who was “clearly not impartial.”

The jury will be asked to determine damages sometime next week. Carroll is seeking $10 million in compensatory damages and significantly more in punitive damages.

Habba said in an opening statement that Carroll should not receive more money, especially since the death threats and comments she receives on social media are not unusual for public figures with a strong social media presence.

“Regardless of a few mean tweets, Ms. Carroll is now more famous than ever in her life, and loved and respected by many, which was her goal,” Habba told the judges.