NEW YORK: Donald Trump went on trial on Tuesday, where the writer E. Jean Carroll accuses the former U.S. president in a civil lawsuit of raping her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.
Jury selection began in Manhattan federal court in the former Elle magazine advice columnist’s case, where Carroll is also accusing Trump of defamation.
Trump, 76, has denied raping Carroll, 79.
He called her claim a “hoax” and “complete Scam” in a October 2022 post on his Truth Social platform. Trump also said she made up the encounter to promote her memoir and declared that she was “not my type!”
The trial is expected to last one to two weeks.
It is part of a slew of lawsuits and investigations facing Trump, the Republican front-runner in the 2024 presidential race, and could be politically damaging as witnesses discuss his alleged sexual misconduct, all of which he denies.
The trial began the same day President Joe Biden, a Democrat, said he would seek a second White House term.
Trump was not in the courthouse and not required to attend the trial, and his lawyers have indicated he likely will not testify in his defense. Lawyers for Carroll also do not plan to call Trump as a witness.
Carroll is seeking unspecified damages for what she calls significant pain and suffering, lasting psychological harm, and invasion of privacy.
