Donald Trump is facing the latest of his numerous legal woes in the civil trial in New York following the accusation that he raped and defamed E Jean Carroll.
The proceedings began on 25 April.
Mr Trump is accused of sexually assaulting Ms Carroll, an author and former magazine columnist, in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan sometime in 1995 or 1996.
Ms Carroll, 79, sued the former president in 2019 and again in 2022 for defamation and battery in separate civil lawsuits, with the columnist seeking unspecified damages.
When did the trial start?
Despite Mr Trump’s efforts to delay proceedings, the first trial started on Tuesday 25 April in the US District Court in Lower Manhattan.
The 2022 lawsuit is going to trial first.
Mr Trump had sought a one-month “cooling off period” after his recent arraignment in the Stormy Daniels hush money payments case, citing concerns that potential jurors would be influenced by the heightened media coverage.
However, Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected that motion at a hearing last week.
In a recent court filing, Mr Trump’s attorneys indicated they expect the trial will last for 10 to 12 days, while Ms Carroll’s legal team believe it will take five to seven days.
Is the trial being televised?
No. The trial is being held in federal court, which typically bans any visual and audio recordings from being made.
Is Donald Trump attending?
Possibly. Mr Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina told the court in a letter this week that the former president “wishes to appear” at the hearing, but is concerned about the “logistical and financial burdens” on New York City.
Mr Trump’s presence at the unrelated criminal hush money hearing forced the closure of several blocks of lower Manhattan and Franklin D Roosevelt Drive.
His attendance would also necessitate a tactical security plan, including a large detail of Secret Service agents, the attorney said.
“As part of that plan, courthouse floors would need to be locked down, elevators shut down, courthouse personnel confined to their offices and members of the public restricted from the area,” Mr Tacopina told the court.
He asked that “his presence is excused unless and until he is called by either party to testify”.
Judge Kaplan rejected the request, saying: “Mr Trump is free to attend, to testify, or both. He is free also to do none of those things,”
Mr Trump is listed as a potential defence witness.
Ms Carroll’s attorneys have indicated they were likely to play a pre-taped deposition of Mr Trump, but that there’s “no need for him to testify live”.
What are the accusations?
In 2019, Ms Carroll publicly alleged that Mr Trump had raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s in her book What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal.
The longtime Elle advice columnist and TV talkshow host said the pair had a chance meeting at the 5th Avenue department store, and he asked for help picking out a gift for a woman.
She said he took her to the lingerie section of the store and asked her to try on an item in the dressing room, where he allegedly pinned her up against a wall and sexually assaulted her for three minutes.
He denied the allegations at a White House press conference, saying he had “never met her” and that “she’s not my type”.
Following his denial, she filed a civil lawsuit for defamation in 2019.
Ms Carroll then filed a separate civil lawsuit against Mr Trump in November 2022 under a New York law that allows sexual assault survivors to bring cases after the statute of limitations has expired on alleged offences.
The new case accuses him of battery – and also adds a new defamation claim based on recent posts in which he called her a “con job”.
