Sexual assault accuser confronts Trump in New York trial

NEW YORK: The woman whom Donald Trump was found liable of sexually assaulting faced off with the former president Wednesday in a New York courtroom to say he subsequently ruined her reputation.

E. Jean Carroll, 80, is seeking more than US$10 million alleging that Trump defamed her in 2019, when she first made her assault allegations public, by saying she “is not my type.”

“It means I’m too ugly to assault,” Carroll told the court.

Asked about how the comment damaged her reputation, Carroll said “previously I was known simply as a journalist, and now I’m known as a liar, a fraud, and a whack job” – quoting insults leveled at her by the 2024 White House hopeful. There were tense moments in court as Carroll gave evidence just a few rows away from where Trump sat.

Carroll’s legal team complained that Trump was making audible comments about her evidence and that jurors could be influenced, CNN reported.

The judge in the civil case asked that Trump lower his voice when conferring with his legal team.

“Mr Trump has the right to be present... That right can be forfeited,” the judge reportedly said.

“I understand you’re probably eager for me to do that.” “I would love it,” Trump replied.

Following the day’s proceedings, Trump used a media briefing to attack the judge for his refusal to delay the trial by a day so he could attend his mother-in-law’s funeral.

“He said ‘absolutely not’... I thought it was terrible,” Trump said before heading to New Hampshire to give a speech ahead of the state’s primary vote. “He’s a nasty judge.”

Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba earlier objected to an answer from Carroll, drawing a sharp rebuke from Judge Lewis Kaplan, who told Habba that “when you speak in this courtroom or any courtroom in this building you’ll stand up,” CNN reported.

Trump was in court for the second day as he seeks to use multiple legal cases against him to galvanize supporters ahead of the New Hampshire primary election next week as his 2024 campaign continues.

Carroll told the hearing she was in court “to stop him from telling lies about me.”

The trial is separate to a case last year where another New York jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996 and subsequently defaming her in 2022, when he called her a “complete con job.”