'Here Because Donald Trump...': Rape Accuser Testifies In Lawsuit Trial

A writer suing Donald Trump took the stand Wednesday to tell jurors that the future president raped her after she accompanied him into a department store fitting room in 1996.

바카라�I'm here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn't happen. He lied and shattered my reputation, and I'm here to try and get my life back,바카라� she testified.

Trump denies E. Jean Carroll's allegations. He hasn't attended the trial thus far, but his lawyers said Tuesday it's still possible he could decide to testify.

Carroll, 79, has said she crossed paths with Trump at the revolving door to Bergdorf Goodman on an unspecified Thursday evening in spring 1996. At the time, she was writing a long-running advice column in Elle magazine. Trump was a real estate magnate and social figure in New York.

She has said he asked her advice about selecting a gift for a woman, and she went along, thinking the experience would be funny. According to Carroll, they ended up in a lingerie department, joked with each other about who should try on a bodysuit and went to a dressing room.

Then, she alleges, Trump slammed her against a wall, yanked down her tights and raped her while she struggled against him. She has said she finally kneed him off her and fled.

Trump, 76, has said he wasn't at the store with Carroll and had no clue who she was when she first aired the story publicly in a 2019 memoir and accompanying magazine excerpt. In a post on his social media site Wednesday, he called the case a 바카라�made up scam.바카라�

바카라�This is a fraudulent & false story 바카라� Witch Hunt!바카라� Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.

In other developments, the judge said Trump made an 바카라�entirely inappropriate바카라� online statement about the trial and warned the former president's lawyers that he could bring more legal problems upon himself.

As court was about to begin Wednesday, Trump 바카라� who has not attended so far 바카라� posted on his social media platform that the case 바카라�is a made-up scam.바카라�

He went on to call Carroll's lawyer 바카라�a political operative바카라� and allude to a DNA issue that the judge has ruled can't be part of the case.

바카라�This is a fraudulent & false story 바카라� Witch Hunt!바카라� Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.

Lawyers for Carroll 바카라� whose suit includes claims that Trump previously defamed her by publicly calling her case a "hoax," "scam," 바카라�lie바카라� and 바카라�complete con job바카라� 바카라� mentioned his new statement to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. He wasn't pleased.

바카라�What seems to be the case is that your client is basically endeavoring, certainly, to speak to his quote-unquote public, but, more troubling, the jury in this case about stuff that has no business being spoken about," the judge told Trump's lawyers. He called Trump's post 바카라�a public statement that, on the face of it, seems entirely inappropriate."

Trump attorney Joe Tacopina noted that jurors are told not to follow any news or online commentary about the case. But he said he would ask Trump 바카라�to refrain from any further posts about this case.바카라�

바카라�I hope you're more successful,바카라� Kaplan said, adding that Trump 바카라�may or may not be tampering with a new source of potential liability.바카라�

The trial comes as Trump again seeks the Republican nomination for president, and weeks after he pleaded not guilty to unrelated criminal charges that involve payments made to silence a porn actor who said she had a sexual encounter with him.

Carroll's federal lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and a retraction of his allegedly defamatory comments.

The suit was filed under a New York law that temporarily lets decades-old sexual abuse claims go to civil court. She never pursued criminal charges. 

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.