3/ This is shaping up to be a protracted issue this morning, and perhaps, on ongoing one throughout the trial if Trump keeps posting.
Judge Kaplan says Trump's comments are "entirely inappropriate."
Tacopina says he'll "try to address that with my client."
šš
4/ Tacopina says he'll ask him to "refrain from any further posts regarding this case."
Judge: "Well, I hope you're more successful," adding that Trump "may or may not be tampering with a new source of potential liability."
"And I think you know what I mean."š„
Me: Not a good start, #FlopsweatTrump
5/ First witness up:
Cheryl Beall, ex-Bergdorf Goodman store manager
Robbie Kaplan questions her.
Q: Have you ever spoken to Ms. Carroll before?
A: No.
Q: Have you met her?
A: No. "I loved my job," Beall says.
Beall says that Bergdorf has a "more residential design" than the typical department store.
"You see a lot of furniture. There's a lot of space to walk around the store. It feels more like an apartment."
6/ Testimony turns to a detailed layout of the store.
Carroll's legal team wants to undercut a key argument of Trump's defense at trial ā that someone would have noticed if a sexual assault took place in an upscale department store in Manhattan.
On cross-ex, Trump's lawyer questions Beall about the store's policies about retaining and/or providing security camera footage.
7/ Trump's attorney asks the witness whether their legal team reached out to her.
A: "Fairly recently, some investigators showed up at my home unannounced."
š š #EJeanCarroll is up now.
E. Jean Carroll:
"I'm here because Donald Trump raped me."š š
9/ Remember, this thread is from @KlasfeldReports's reporting, not mine:
Carroll describes her impression of Trump as being a "raconteur" and "man about town."
She believed him to be a "sophisticated man who was entertaining to be around."
10/ [Okay, points to the attorney for asking why E Jean would find Trump attractive š¤¢ ]
Q: Did you find him attractive?
A: Yes.
Q: Why?
A: He was very personable.
Asked about the timing of the alleged rape, Carroll acknowledges that she has struggled to remember the date, and she delves into context clues without a firm answer until Trump's attorney Joe Tacopina objects.
11/ Judge Kaplan adopts a wait-and-see approach and allows her to continue.
Carroll says she believes it was spring 1996, because her friend Lisa Birnbach published an article about Trump in February of that year, which involved a trip to MAL. Birnbach was one of two women Carroll says she told about the alleged rape.
"I believe that Lisa never would have gone down to Mar-a-Lago if she knew what [Trump] had done to me," she says.
Objection.
Overruled.
12/ Carroll said that the encounter began when she was leaving the store and Trump raised his hand up, imitating what she called the "universal" signal.
After Trump recognized her as the "advice lady," she replied: "Hey, you're that real estate tycoon," she says.
Much of this testimony mirrors her deposition on the subject, including Trump allegedly mocking her when she revealed her age.
"You are so old," Carroll quoted him saying, calling his inflection "humorous."
13/ After they went into the store to help Trump find a gift for a woman, Carroll says, Trump picked up a see-through, gray, body suit.
"It looks like a swimsuit, but this was see-through," she says. "It used to be called teddies."
She says Trump said: "Go put this on."
She called the remark "jesting, joshing."
She says she replied: "You put it on. It's your color."
14/ Carroll:
"I started looking on it as a Saturday Night Live sketch."
"Donald Trump was being very light, very joshing and pleasant, and very funny."
Q: Just to be clear, was Trump dragging you into the dressing room?
A: No.
Asked if she was flirting with Trump, she agrees that she was.
Asked if things were escalating, she replies that the "comedy was escalating."
15/ Carroll says that the opening of the door "plagued" her because she "walked into it."
She says Trump "shoved" her against the wall, adding that she was extremely confused.
Carroll: "I continued to laugh, because for a minute I thought maybe it was a mistake."
16/ Again, via @KlasfeldReports
"He [#Trump], he was very large." [...]
"He leaned down and pulled down my tights."
"I was pushing him back. It was quite clear that I didn't want anything else to happen."
17/ Q: At any point during this encounter, do you recall saying no?
A: (softly) No.
She adds: "I don't *recall* saying it," adding she may have.
Asked if she screamed, Carroll said: "I'm not a screamer."
18/ Carroll:
"He pulled down my tights and his hand, his fingers went into my vagina, which was extremely painful."
He "curved" his fingers, she says.
Carroll: "As I'm sitting here today, I still feel it."
Q: Then, what happened.
A: Then he inserted his penis.
19/ Long and sustained pause after her attorney asks what happened next.
She looks downcast, as her lawyer asks if she needs a moment.
Carroll presses on and is audibly emotional as she says that she tried to get her knee up to get off.
Carroll said she "had so much adrenaline" going through her as she tried to push off.
Q: Do you know if he ejaculated?
A: I don't think so.
20/ Asked if she remembered how long the alleged assault lasted, Carroll replies: "Very few minutes, very few. That's another thing that surprised me."
She said it surprised her because of the sudden change from the "joshing" tone from earlier.
Me: Remember Trump "joking" about grabbing women by the pussy? Welp.
21/ She says she told her friend Lisa Birnbach, believing she might have thought it was funny.
Asked pointedly why she ever would have thought that, Carroll replies: "I had not processed it. I had not processed what was going on."
Asked if she thinks any part of it was funny today, Carroll replies: āNo, it was tragic.ā
22/ Carroll said that Birnbach, who is an anticipated witness, told her:
āHe raped you. He raped you, E. Jean. You should go to the police."
"I said āNo way.ā"
"She said, āIāll go with you.'"
During opening statements, Trump's attorney noted that Carroll didn't write about the alleged rape in her diary.
Asked about why she didn't, Carroll says: "I'm very superstitious. I don't put bad things in my diary."
23/ I turned off CW now. I have trouble w CW in this case because this is important testimony that shouldn't "offend," it should enlighten. And yes, it should shock. Let's not be afraid or offended by truth. Just my opinion. Back to testimony:
She says she told her friend, anchorwoman Carol Martin, about it, & that Martin advised against coming forward.
āKeep it to yourself," she recalled Martin advising. "He has 200 lawyers. Heāll bury you.ā
Martin is one of Carroll's anticipated witnesses.
24/ Sigh. All too familiar.
Testimony:
Asked why she stayed silent, Carroll said: "I would never report something like this."
She added: "Roger Ailes would have fired me. He was a friend of Donald Trump."
"I was ashamed. I thought it was my fault."
25/ Carroll adds that people view women who are sexually abused as "soiled goods."
"People say, 'You're so brave. You're so brave,'" but also: "I don't know," questioning whether the woman should have been smarter, should have screamed, or shouldn't have flirted so much.
26/ The #EJeanCarroll vs #Trump civil trial resumes, and @KlasfeldReports is on it. Here we go, and it's a doozy:
Q: Have you had a romantic relationship since the assault?
A: No.
Q: Why?
(Pause)
A: The short answer is, because Donald Trump raped me.
27/ After she was flirting, she says, she got into trouble.
Carroll: "It's impossible for me to even look at [a man] and smile."
Asked if she ever had sex since then, she says no.
Carroll's voice cracks as she describes what she calls her "private self."
"That's the one that can't admit out loud that there's been any suffering," she says.
As for her public persona, she says: "That's my front. I'm invincible. I solve other people's problems."
28/ Trump is, as Pres. Biden said, dangerous.
Via Klasfeld:
Meanwhile, on the court's docket, the judge shows again how serious he is about juror anonymity. Check out how he starts an order about bringing lunch to them throughout the trial.
"Due to the circumstances of the case..." it begins...
29/ After making the reference about the worst decision of your her, her lawyer asks her what she's referring to.
"Going into that dressing room," she responds.
She describes her former marriage to John Johnson as "very tempestuous."
"The flip side of it was we argued. We fought. We were dog and cat," she says, adding there was physical violence.
"He strangled me three times," she says.
30/ Carroll testifies that she was sexually abused by a camp counselor.
"Under the table, he would run his hands" on her in front of the other campers, she says.
Q: Are you a happy person, Ms. Carroll?
"I am a happy person," she replies, adding it may sound strange to some people in light of her testimony today.
31/ #EJeanCarroll describes intrusive thoughts and visions.
"I thought for a minute I was going to die, that I couldn't breathe," she says.
She says a picture of him would come into her mind when she was cooking pasta. She says she'd feel his fingers "jammed up" inside of her.
32/ Carroll is shown passages of her book emphasizing her strength. She said that was written by her "Ask E. Jean" persona.
"That's the invincible woman, not the private one," she says.
She says she's almost "incapable" of showing her weaknesses.
33/ Carroll's attorney appears to be drawing out every piece of information that he expects Trump's counsel will characterize as inconsistencies on cross-ex.
She's praised "The Apprentice."
Q: How did you like the show of someone who raped you?
She said it was well-produced.
She waxes eloquent about the ambition of the contestants.
She agrees that she continued to go to Bergdorf Goodman after her alleged assault.
34/ Q: Have you taken any of the advice that you've given readers?
A: No.
Q: Why not?
A: I'm not as smart as I think I am.
Asked if she thought Trump would be a good president, Carroll answers no: "I thought he was evil."
Q: Why did you think he was evil?
A: Because he raped me.
35/ Carroll acknowledges that she's a registered Democrat.
Q: Are you bringing this lawsuit because of your political views?
A: No.
She says she voted for Obama, Clinton and Biden. She donated once, $1,000, to Obama, but she says she voted GOP once.
Q: What's your opinion of Donald Trump today?
A: He's vile.
[Me: BEYOND vile. And getting more vile as this testimony goes on.]
36/ On Tuesday, Trump's attorney Joe Tacopina ended his opening statement with a photograph of E. Jean Carroll smiling next to a man wearing a Trump mask in her "Most Hideous Men in New York" walking tour.
Tacopina told jurors a "picture is worth 1000 words."
Showing her the same photograph, her attorney asked her: "Why are you smiling next to someone who's dressed like Donald Trump?"
"It's funny. He's not Donald Trump."
37/ šØ
Judge Kaplan issues a big ruling before jury reenters from afternoon recess:
Trump can't draw out testimony about E. Jean Carroll's litigation financing by LinkedIn billionaire Reid Hoffman, the judge finds.
"I have concluded that there's virtually nothing in there as to credibility, and even if there were, the unfair prejudicial effect into going into this subject would outweigh [any] probative value."
38/ š This judge runs a tight ship:
Carroll's lawyer notes the Eric Trump tweeted about him.
After that, Kaplan issues a stern warning to Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina, saying the posts could put the ex-prez and "conceivably" his son "in harm's way." Judge: "If I were in your shoes, Iād be having a conversation with your client."
He adds later that "there are some relevant United States statutes here and somebody on your side ought to be thinking about them. "
39/ Carroll's testimony continues.
She says she received a $70,000 advance on the book.
Q: How has the book sold?
A: [inaudible] Not at all. Terrible.
(Note: Trump's lawyers paint Carroll as financially motivated. Her lawyers are drawing the money subject out before they do.)
40/ Klasfeld:
Ex-federal prosecutor @JoyceWhiteVance unpacks the "relevant United States statutes" a federal judge may have had in mind in reference to Trump's out-of-court swipes at E. Jean Carroll on social media before her testimony.
Joyce Alene @JoyceWhiteVance
The judge in the E Jean Carroll trial is taking Trump's derogatory social media posts from this morning seriously. His reference to other federal statutes is likely to the 18 USC 1500 series of obstruction of justice crimes.
41/ Carroll on why she published the excerpt in NY Mag, not Elle:
"Elle magazine would never have published this excerpt."
They wouldn't want to portray their advice columnist this way, she says.
"It's about this woman confessing that she was making a bad mistake" and suffering.
42/ Brutal, heartbreaking testimony:
Carroll on how she understd Trump's remark "She's not my type."
In addition to calling her liar, Carroll notes, Trump implied "too ugly to attack, too ugly to rape."
"I thought he'd say it was consensual...
On Trump's remarks:
"I lost my reputation. Nobody looked at me the same. It was gone."
Describes those who looked at her w "pity" & others who did so w "hatred."
"The force of hatred coming at me was staggering," she says, drawing out the last word
$$$$$$$ CaChing!
Laffy
GATEKEEPER