On the strength of his victory in the Republican primaries in New Hampshire, the libel trial filed by the author against Donald Trump in the presence of the former President of the United States resumes in New York on Thursday.
The businessman and political tribune, who is nearing a November presidential rematch against Biden, returned to New York on Wednesday evening and left his Trump Tower in Manhattan to enter the courthouse from south New York Island on Thursday morning. To the AFP photographer.
Since January 16, this civil trial has pitted 80-year-old Elizabeth Jean Carroll, 77, a former columnist for the American edition of Elle magazine, against Donald Trump, whom she ordered to pay 5 million in civil court in May 2023. In 1996 compensation for sexual assault in dollars and, for the first time, for defamation.
Traveling for eight days between his campaign rallies in the states of Iowa and New Hampshire and a federal court in New York, the former White House tenant, who dreams of returning there, comes out strong from his victory in the Jan. 15 primary. and 23, are scheduled to testify Thursday in their own defense.
The trial was canceled on Monday and adjourned several times until this Thursday due to suspected covid among jurors and lawyers.
On Wednesday evening, on his Truth social platform, Donald Trump called his accuser E. Made no fewer than 37 attacks against Jean Carroll, whom he continued to denigrate and insult for months, calling him “crazy”, a “phony story”, which he had “never seen in (his) life”.
And this is despite the first major verdict in May by a popular jury in the same New York federal civil court, finding him liable for “sexual assault” and defamation.
The second trial, which is not an appeals hearing, stems from a defamation complaint filed by the author and former journalist over statements Mr. Trump made in June 2019, when she first accused him of rape in a book.
Then President of the United States (2017-2021), he said that a woman who was “not his type” had invented everything to “sell a new book”. The process was delayed but this second trial was held.
The plaintiff is seeking more than ten million dollars in moral and professional damages.
Donald Trump has also been targeted by four criminal cases this election year.
Published on January 25 at 5:42 pm, AFP
