‘Fear and shame’: jury hears opening arguments in Trump civil assault trial

Writer E Jean Carroll is suing former president for battery and defamation for allegedly assaulting her at a store in 1996

Former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll walks into Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, in New York. Jury selection is scheduled to begin in a trial over Carroll's claim that former President Donald Trump raped her nearly three decades ago in a department store dressing room. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Donald Trump’s lawyer told a New York jury on Tuesday that the advice columnist E Jean Carroll conspired with other women to falsely accuse the former president of rape because they “hate” him for winning the 2016 election.

The opening day of a civil trial in a Manhattan federal court heard that Carroll is suing Trump for battery and defamation “to clear her name, to pursue justice and to get her life back” after the former president allegedly raped her in a New York department store in 1996 and then denied it years later.