former president of the United States donald trump (2017-2021) will testify Before a nine-man jury selected on Tuesday defamation lawsuit filed against writer E. Jean Carroll The hearing starts today in New York, where the complainant will also speak. This decision was made by Judge Lewis Kaplan, despite the opinion of the columnist’s lawyers. Concern that the former president “could create chaos” if he had attended the hearing. Carroll will take the stand this Wednesday and tell his version of events to the jury.
Trump, who won his first pre-election victory after collecting more than 50 percent of the votes in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, attended the federal court in Manhattan wearing a ‘uniform’, black suit and red tie.
In this hearing, which will last only three to five days, according to Kaplan, Trump will have to respond to accusations that he did not know the author in 2019 and that his confession slandered Carroll. the former president sexually harassed her in the 1990s It was wrong. Carroll is seeking compensation of 9.1 million euros.
Last May, a jury found Trump guilty of sexual assault and insulting the author, but not of rape. Since then, the former president has continued to claim that he does not know her and has repeatedly questioned her version of events. Last week, Judge Kaplan ruled in this case that: Trump can’t deny sexual assault because it’s a case that’s already been decided Something the jury repeated this Tuesday. That means jurors won’t get into Carroll’s sexual allegations and their only job will be to decide whether Trump harmed Carroll with his 2019 statements and, if so, subsequent financial penalties.
As the author’s attorney, Shawn Crowley, noted today, Trump has turned his client’s life upside down and He encouraged his followers to attack Carroll on social media. Trump’s defense, on the other hand, pointed out that Carroll gained fame and followers after his statements against Trump: especially on X (formerly Twitter), from 10,000 followers in 2017 to over 282,000 in 2024.
Selection of 9 jury members
On Tuesday morning, nine unnamed jurors were selected from more than forty people summoned. That selection process lasted more than three hours, and neither Trump nor Carroll could speak as the judge questioned potential jurors with questions such as: Have you donated to Trump’s campaigns? Have you read Carroll’s columns? Or do you think there was electoral fraud in the last presidential election?
Trump, who cannot speak, often chooses to turn his back to Kaplan to maintain eye contact, unlike Carroll, who chooses to keep his gaze forward toward the judge as these people give their answers.
But the Republican said on his social network Truth Social today: “I should be in New Hampshire, campaigning and fighting for our country, and I will be later today, but I’ve had to spend time in federal court With a radical leftist judge who hates Trumpotherwise it is politically biased.”
A busy January for Trump
Trump was only present at jury selection and did not personally listen to the lawyers speak.
In addition to full campaigning for the Republican primary, last week Thursday also concluded final arguments in a civil lawsuit over fraud against the family business, in which the former president faces fines of up to $370 million (about $340 million). million Euros) and a lifetime ban from real estate in New York state.
And it’s not just the hearings in New York, so Trump faces four more criminal charges: two for trying to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election, which he lost to current president Joe Biden; one to take classified documents from the White House to his home in Florida; and one involving payments made to porn actress Stormy Daniels to conceal a sexual relationship.