Trump news – live: E Jean Carroll grilled on old texts and emails about alleged rape as Trump denied mistrial

E Jean Carroll was grilled on her old texts and emails in connection to the alleged rape by Donald Trump as the judge in the battery and defamation case against the ex-president denied his request for a mistrial to be declared.

Magazine columnist E Jean Carroll is suing Mr Trump for battery and defamation after he allegedly raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s. Ms Carroll ended her stint on the stand on Monday afternoon after three days of emotional testimony.

In a letter sent in overnight on Monday, Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina argued that Judge Lewis Kaplan was guilty of “pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings” against the Trump legal team.

Ms Carroll revealed the accusation in her 2019 memoir What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal.

Mr Tacopina showed a message Ms Carroll sent to her friend Carol Martin.

“Do not worry. I have been walking these great New York Streets the last six days ALONE and at night, and ALL DAY LONG and receive nothing but thanks! and thumbs up! It is the opposite of ‘concern,’” she wrote, according to Law & Crime.

Key points

• ‘I’m happy with undertones of unhappiness'

• ‘It seemed like the whole front of my head had been wiped out’

• ‘Women of my age just took our licks and went on'

• Carroll says answering questions in court is a ‘very satisfying moment’

• ‘Women like me were taught and trained to keep our chins up and never complain'

Biden mocks Fox News, Elon Musk and Don Lemon at White House Correspondents Dinner

06:00 , John Bowden

Joe Biden was in full “Dark Brandon” form on Saturday evening at the White House Correspondents Dinner, and held nothing back as he celebrated the DC media sphere with remarks that both touched on important issues and revealed the levity for which he is famous.

The president spoke just before comedian Roy Wood Jr of The Daily Show took the stage, but Mr Biden’s remarks had the same cutting comedic bite that the seasoned “fake news show” reporters of Comedy Central are best known for.

During his remarks, the president called for the freedom of imprisoned Americans Austin Tice, Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkowitz, a reporter from The Wall Street Journal wrongly accused of espionage and imprisoned by the Russian government.

And then, he turned the focus on those reporters in the room with a series of jokes that certainly left many reporters in the room understanding the “Dark Brandon” meme a little better.

Read more:

Biden mocks Fox News, Elon Musk and Don Lemon at White House Correspondents Dinner

Trump rape case explained: How a chance department store meeting led to a court case decades later

05:00 , Andrew Feinberg

Decades after she was allegedly raped by a New York real estate mogul who would go on to be the 45th President of the United States, E Jean Carroll is getting her day in court.

Ms Carroll, a writer and former advice columnist for Elle magazine, is the plaintiff in a pair of civil lawsuits against former president Donald Trump.

One of those lawsuits is now being presented in a New York City federal courtroom under the supervision of US District Judge Lewis Kaplan. The proceedings began on 25 April.

The jurors in the trial will remain anonymous on Judge Kaplan’s orders due to the risk of threats, intimidation or outright violence against anyone seen as an enemy by Mr Trump and his supporters as they hear evidence of allegations made by Ms Carroll against the twice-impeached and indicted ex-president.

Ms Carroll has claimed that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s.

Read more:

Trump on trial: What to know about the E Jean Carroll rape case

Carroll returns to witness stand as cross-examination continues

04:30 , Gustaf Kilander

E Jean Carroll returned to the witness stand on Monday morning as the cross-examination by Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina continued.

“Ms Carroll, you continued to shop at Bergdorf’s after the 1995 or 1996 event you describe?” the attorney asked, according to Inner City Press, to which Ms Carroll said she did.

“Since 1995 or 1996, you’ve [made] many purchases from Bergdorf’s?” Mr Tacopina pressed.

“Not necessarily many, but several,” Ms Carroll said.

Mr Tacopina asked if it was “fair to say you were not afraid of going to Bergdorf’s?”

“Correct,” Ms Carroll said.

2019: E Jean Carroll speaks out

04:00 , Andrew Feinberg

The magazine columnist spoke out about the allegations for the first time in 2019 when Mr Trump was president.

After he denied the allegations and accused her of lying in a bid to bolster sales of her forthcoming book, she filed a defamation lawsuit against him in November 2019.

That suit stalled in the courts for years and is yet to make it to trial.

Then, last year, New York lawmakers passed the state’s Adult Survivors Act, giving sexual abuse victims a one-year window to sue attackers for assaults that took place years ago.

That law paved the way for Ms Carroll to file a second lawsuit against the former president in November accusing him of both raping her and then defaming her years later by denying the assault took place.

That second lawsuit – seeking damages and a retraction of his denial – is now playing out in a New York court.

‘Ambitious young business people competing, that’s what I liked'

03:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Ms Carroll said on Monday morning that she was “impressed” by The Apprentice.

“Ambitious young business people competing, that’s what I liked. Not [Mr Trump] firing people,” she said, according to Inner City Press.

“But you posted that you were a big fan,” Mr Tacopina pressed.

Ms Carroll noted that two of her friends were on the programme.

Justice Department involvement delayed the defamation suit

03:00 , Andrew Feinberg

Although a Clinton-era Supreme Court case, Jones v Clinton, allows presidents to be sued for conduct which occurred before the start of their time in the White House, Mr Trump’s legal team asked the Department of Justice to aid in his defence of the 2019 case.

The department filed papers seeking to shield him from liability on the grounds that he was acting in an official capacity as president when he made the allegedly defamatory statements about Ms Carroll. But Judge Kaplan rejected those arguments and said the suit could proceed. An attempt by Mr Trump to appeal that decision failed in September 2021 as well.

His legal team took up another approach in February of last year when they moved to countersue Ms Carroll.

But Judge Kaplan blocked that bid in a scathing decision on 11 March 2022, in which he slammed Mr Trump’s continuing attempts to delay the case as “futile” and in “bad faith”.

“The defendant’s litigation tactics, whatever their intent, have delayed the case to an extent that readily could have been far less,” Judge Kaplan wrote.

“Granting leave to amend without considering the futility of the proposed amendment needlessly would make a regrettable situation worse by opening new avenues for significant further delay”.

Letting Mr Trump countersue “would make a regrettable situation worse,” the judge added.

Trump lawyer heckled as he arrives at court

02:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina was heckled by Carroll supporters as he arrived at the courthouse on Monday morning.

Carroll suing Trump for alleged rape

02:00 , Andrew Feinberg

Last year, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the Adult Survivors Act, which created a one-year suspension of statutes of limitations for rape and other civil claims arising from allegations of sexual misconduct.

The law allows sexual assault survivors to sue their attackers regardless of when the alleged assault may have taken place.

In November 2022, shortly after the bill signing, Ms Carroll filed a second lawsuit against Mr Trump for rape.

The new case accuses him of battery – and also adds a new defamation claim based on recent posts in which he called her a “con job”.

Both lawsuits are seeking monetary damages from the ex-president.

Tacopina’s questioning prompts judge to ask jury to step out

01:30 , Gustaf Kilander

On Monday morning, Mr Tacopina asked Ms Carroll: “This Facebook post says, ‘Would you have sex with Donald Trump for $17,000 if he couldn’t speak’ – you joked around about this, right?”

Ms Carroll said she had.

“You joked about having sex with Mr Trump five years before,” the lawyer added.

“We all know the math,” Judge Kaplan interjected, according to Inner City Press.

“Your book, it has a list of hideous men?” Mr Tacopina asked.

“It is a dark satire,” Ms Carroll responded.

“According to you, it does not even include all the men you say assaulted you?” Mr Tacopina asked.

This prompted an objection from Ms Carroll’s legal team and the judge asked the jury to step into the jury room.

Following the objection against Mr Tacopina’s line of questioning, an attorney for Ms Carroll told Judge Kaplan that “it is not appropriate for the jury to know of assaults outside the book, even some in the book”.

“She testified to the 21 most hideous men, seemingly not including all those who apparently assaulted her,” Mr Tacopina said.

Judge Kaplan asked why an answer regarding the assaults would be permissible, leading to Mr Tacopina withdrawing the question.

“The book as a whole is not” a part of the trial, a lawyer for Ms Carroll said, according to Inner City Press.

The lawyer added that the attacks by Ms Carroll’s ex-husband John Johnson and former CBS boss Les Moonves are a part of the proceedings.

Following this discussion, the jury reentered the courtroom.

Bernie Sanders predicts Biden ‘landslide’ win in 2024

01:00 , Andrew Feinberg

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said President Joe Biden will cruise to re-election if he spends the next year and a half challenging corporate power and “delivering” for everyday Americans of modest means.

Mr Sanders, an Independent who ran for president as a Democrat in the last two presidential elections, told CNN State of the Union anchor Dana Bash that Mr Biden needs to be “stronger on working-class issues” than his future Republican opponent.

Democrats, he said, have “got to make it clear that we believe in a government that represents all, not just the few, take on the greed of the insurance companies, the drug companies, Wall Street, all the big money interests, and start delivering for working-class people”.

“You do that, I think Biden is going to win in a landslide,” he added.

Mr Sanders also acknowledged that he and the president have “strong differences of opinion” but he stressed that voters will judge Mr Biden on his record in next year’s election.

Read more:

Bernie Sanders predicts Biden ‘landslide’ win in 2024

‘I wouldn’t suggest it’s satire. That seems to upset you'

Tuesday 2 May 2023 00:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Tacopina went on to bring up Ms Carroll’s interview with fellow magazine writer and Trump accuser Natasha Stoynoff, saying that Ms Carroll asked if Mr Trump had been “grinding” against her.

The Trump lawyer argued that this suggested that Ms Carroll was coaching a witness.

“I recognize what you’re trying to do,” Judge Kaplan said, according to Law & Crime. “Your interpretation of that that you want to argue to the jury is that means Ms Carroll was trying to suggest that Ms Stoynoff quote-unquote ‘remember’ that that happened.”

“She was trying to put words in the witness’s mouth,” he added.

It’s “at least arguable that she asked three times” as Ms Stoynoff didn’t give a “straight answer,” Judge Kaplan said.

“I think you’re allowed to go into it,” the judge said, adding that it must be in a timely manner and within the rules of evidence.

Mr Tacopina partly based his mistrial request on Judge Kaplan’s remark about Jonathan Swift and his satirical 1729 essay A Modest Proposal.

“I wouldn’t suggest it’s satire,” Judge Kaplan said on Monday. “That seems to upset you.”

At this point, there was laughter in the courtroom.

Judge rejects Trump’s call for mistrial in E Jean Carroll case

Tuesday 2 May 2023 00:00 , Eric Garcia

The judge in writer E Jean Carroll’s case against former president Donald Trump rejected the former president’s call to declare a mistrial, CNN reported.

Mr Trump had requested a mistrial in the civil battery and defamation trial he faces against writer E Jean Carroll, citing the presiding judge’s “pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings” against him, CNN reported.

Mr Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina filed a letter early on Monday morning saying he would alternatively ask Judge Lewis Kaplan to “correct the record for each and every instance in which the Court has mischaracterized the facts of this case to the jury” or ask for greater leeway in cross examining Ms Carroll.

“Here, despite the fact trial testimony has been underway for only two days, the proceedings are already replete with numerous explains of Defendant’s unfair treatment by the Court, most of which has been witnessed by the Jury,” the letter read.

Read more:

Judge rejects Trump’s call for mistrial in E Jean Carroll case

‘Rape is everywhere in our entertainment world'

Monday 1 May 2023 23:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Tacopina asked Ms Carroll: “Most people don’t think of rape as something sexy. Do you?”

“Game of Thrones shows nine rapes, and 50 attempts. Rape is everywhere in our entertainment world,” Ms Carroll said. “It excites people and draws an audience. Hence I said, Most people think of rape as sexy... But to me, rape is the most violent act that can be done.”

In the deposition, Ms Carroll said, “I think Anderson Cooper wanted to get away from the statement that rape is characterized in any way as sexy”.

Mr Tacopina asked, “You said you could ‘dine out on this story forever,’ what did you mean?”

“It was such a New York story,” Ms Carroll said, according to Inner City Press.

“In November 2019 you sued Donald Trump, then started a Substack, you make $70,000 a year,” the lawyer said. “And that’s successful for a Substack blog, right?”

Ms Carroll said it is.

Audio was played in the courtroom of Ms Carroll saying, “I’m now making more on Substack than I did before. So long, Elle!”

E Jean Carroll says Trump ‘ground her face in mud’ as she explains why she didn’t report rape to police

Monday 1 May 2023 23:00 , Gustaf Kilander and Bevan Hurley

E Jean Carroll accused Donald Trump of “grinding her face into the mud” as she explained why she didn’t file a police report after the former president allegedly raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.

Ms Carroll returned to the witness stand for a third day in her civil battery and defamation trial against Mr Trump on Monday to face continued cross-examination from his lawyers.

The former Elle magazine advice columnist is suing Mr Trump over her claim that he sexually assaulted her in a changing room of the Bergdorf Goodman store in New York City in 1995 or 1996. Ms Carroll filed her first suit, accusing Mr Trump of defamation, in 2019 after he aggressively rejected the allegations. She filed a second suit for battery last year, which is the one at the centre of the current trial.

Mr Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly grilled Ms Carroll on the fact that she did not report the alleged assault to police.

Testifying on Monday, she explained: “I was born in 1943, I am a woman of the silent generation. Women like me were taught and trained to keep our chins up and never complain. The fact that I never went to the police is not surprising. I would never call the police about something I was ashamed of. I thought it was my fault.”

Read more:

E Jean Carroll says Trump ‘ground her face in mud’ in rape trial testimony

Joe Biden’s jokes about Fox News met with ‘stony-faced silence’ from network reporters

Monday 1 May 2023 22:30 , John Bowden

Joe Biden clearly hit his target when he lambasted Fox News and the network’s reporters at the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents Association.

That at least was the review of MSNBC’s Medhi Hasan, who was seated near the Fox News tables in the Washington Hilton’s ballroom, revealed that reporters from the network had sat in “stony-faced silence” as Mr Biden tore them apart for their bosses’ $787m settlement with Dominion Voting Systems — the consequences of the decision to allow opinion hosts on the network to “endorse”, in Rupert Murdoch’s words, lies and conspiracies about the 2020 election.

Hasan gleefully reviewed the reaction from the reporters on Sunday as he and MSNBC colleague Ayman Moyheldin completed the traditional handoff between their shows.

“I’ll enjoy his gags at Fox’s expense, I’ll admit it,” said Hasan. He noted that amid the jokes, “there were no cutaways to the Fox tables”, including the one next to his seat where CEO Suzanne Scott was present for the festivities.

“It was stony-faced silence throughout,” he continued, noting the table’s other conservative guests — former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr, and ex-Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway.

Read more:

Biden’s jokes about Fox News met with ‘stony-faced silence’ from network reporters

CNN says Trump to appear in New Hampshire town hall

Monday 1 May 2023 22:00 , AP

CNN said Monday that former President Donald Trump will participate in a town hall forum next week in New Hampshire.

The event will be held May 10 at St. Anselm College. Trump will take questions from New Hampshire Republicans and voters who plan to participate in the 2024 presidential primary, the network said.

“CNN This Morning” anchor Kaitlan Collins will moderate. There was no immediate word on when the event will be broadcast.

While president, Trump made CNN one of his favorite targets for criticism. Scheduling the event for CNN indicates that he’s trying to reach beyond Republican voters; he’s done interviews on Fox News over the past several weeks.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung declined to comment on the announcement.

Read more:

CNN says Trump to appear in New Hampshire town hall

‘I’m happy with undertones of unhappiness'

Monday 1 May 2023 21:50 , Gustaf Kilander

During a brief re-cross-examination, Mr Tacopina asked Ms Carroll: “Are you happy, or are you not happy now?”

“I’m happy with undertones of unhappiness,” she said, according to Law & Crime.

Mr Tacopina said he wasn’t questioning how a “true” rape victim should respond before going into Ms Carroll’s reasons for not screaming.

Judge Kaplan was “clearly peeved,” according to Law & Crime.

“Mr Tacopina, you get to have a closing argument in the case after I instruct a jury,” he said. “After, not before.”

That signalled the end of Ms Carroll’s three emotional days on the witness stand and the end of the day’s proceedings.

‘It seemed like the whole front of my head had been wiped out’

Monday 1 May 2023 21:42 , Gustaf Kilander

Ms Carroll was asked about what she clearly remembers of the alleged assault by Mr Trump – him closing the door, penetrating her, and her not giving her consent.

Speaking about her state of mind right afterwards, she said, “It seemed like the whole front of my head had been wiped out. I couldn’t think,” according to Law & Crime.

Carroll says most of the ‘thousands’ of men she has met are ‘pretty wonderful guys'

Monday 1 May 2023 21:37 , Gustaf Kilander

Carroll attorney Michael Ferrara asked Ms Carroll how many men she had on her “hideous” list, to which Ms Carroll said 21.

Ms Carroll added that she has met “thousands” of men in her life most of them are “pretty wonderful guys,” according to Law & Crime.

She was then asked if she “ever had a doubt Mr Trump penetrated you with his fingers?”

“No doubt, Ms Carroll said, according to Inner City Press.

Carroll says she lifts her spirits with dark comedy

Monday 1 May 2023 21:33 , Gustaf Kilander

‘Women of my age just took our licks and went on'

Monday 1 May 2023 21:31 , Gustaf Kilander

Earlier during the proceedings, Mr Tacopina asked Ms Carroll about an episode of Law & Order SVU in which a woman is raped in a dressing room at the Berghof Goodman like she alleges she was.

“Did you ever see that Law & Order SVU episode?” her counsel asked her during re-direct on Monday afternoon.

Ms Carroll said she hadn’t.

“Mr Tacopina asked you, Why didn’t you scream, yes?” her counsel asked.

“I was amazed that a woman be asked that in 2023,” the 79-year-old said, later adding that “Donald Trump was very powerful. Women of my age just took our licks and went on”.

Trump names second golf course after his mother on Scotland visit

Monday 1 May 2023 21:30 , Craig Paton

Former US president Donald Trump has attended a ceremony to break ground for a second course at one of his Scottish golf resorts and named it after his mother.

Earlier, he told reporters it’s “great to be home” as he arrived at Aberdeen Airport on his private jet.

He headed to his Trump International Scotland Course at the Menie Estate near Aberdeen and cut a red ribbon to mark breaking ground on the new MacLeod course – dedicated to his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod.

She was born on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles before emigrating to the US.

He said: “We are going to build a great golf course that aims to replicate the outstanding championship links we already have here and many believe to be the greatest golf course in the world.”

Read more:

Trump names second golf course after his mother on Scotland visit

Carroll says she didn’t tell others how she was doing as she didn’t want to ‘unload on them'

Monday 1 May 2023 21:23 , Gustaf Kilander

On Monday afternoon, Ms Carroll said that “When people ask me how I am, I’m more concerned with them. I don’t want to, as they say, unload on them”.

“You said your desire for desire was killed,” her counsel asked, according to Inner City Press.

“I believe in luck. You make your own. I was getting in my own way. I did not flirt,” Ms Carroll said.

Carroll says answering questions in court is a ‘very satisfying moment’

Monday 1 May 2023 21:18 , Gustaf Kilander

As the re-direct began, Ms Carroll was asked about finding happiness.

“That’s the goal of all of us in this courtroom – To find a little bit of happiness,” she said, according to Law & Crime.

As she became emotional, Ms Carroll said, “Instead of living with the feeling that I caused this horrible thing to happen, by telling my story, I started to take a little bit of control. And it’s been a long way”.

“And this is a very satisfying moment for me to be here to answer your questions,” she added, her voice wavering.

Tacopina ends questioning of E Jean Carroll

Monday 1 May 2023 21:06 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Tacopina went on to ask Ms Carroll about her “hideous men of New York” walking tour.

Ms Carroll said the city has the “best walking tours. So I thought of one about hideous men. You’d start at Tiffany’s. Women were told not to speak at meetings”.

“Then we’d go to NBC, then Fox News, then CBS. Then where Studio 54 was,” she added, according to Inner City Press.

“You posted this picture with the man in the Donald Trump mask. You’re smiling. You’re having a wonderful time?” Mr Tacopina said in reference to an Instagram post.

“It was a very instructive tour,” Ms Carroll said.

After playing audio from a podcast of Ms Carroll saying, “it’s been fabulous,” Mr Tacopina ended his questioning of the writer.

‘I had to get used to seeing Donald Trump everywhere'

Monday 1 May 2023 20:55 , Gustaf Kilander

Following a break in the proceedings, Mr Tacopina asked Ms Carroll, “On Jan 31, 2023 you testified things changed in 2016?”

“I had to get used to seeing Donald Trump everywhere,” she said, according to Inner City Press.

‘I was coming to understand some terrible things'

Monday 1 May 2023 20:32 , Gustaf Kilander

After discussing Ms Carroll’s testimony that she hasn’t had a romantic relationship since Mr Trump’s alleged rape, Mr Tacopina asked: “You’re now asking for emotional damages from the alleged rape?”

Ms Carroll said she is.

“You wrote, I am fine, I never suffered. That was the public E. Jean, not the private?” the lawyer pressed.

Ms Carroll said it was. “I didn’t reveal my whole self, I held something back,” she sai, according to Inner City Press.

“I put on the go get ‘em face that I’ve always had,” she said.

“Your perception only started to change in 2017?” Mr Tacopina asked.

“I was coming to understand some terrible things,” Ms Carroll said.

“It was the MeToo movement and the Harvey Weinstein story?” Mr Tacopina asked.

Ms Carroll confirmed that version of events.

Carroll says her ‘trustworthiness crumbled’ after Trump called her a liar for three days

Monday 1 May 2023 20:13 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Tacopina asked Ms Carroll if she blamed Elle for firing her.

“I understood it. But I was forlorn. They let me go after 27 years,” she said, according to Inner City Press.

“You sent an email to your agent saying that after Nina Garcia, the editor of Elle, took over they cut your salary from $10,000 to $5,000 a column. You were looking to get out of your contract, right?” Mr Tacopina said.

“I was looking for other work. At The Atlantic,” she said.

“My column used to be in the well of the magazine. The new folks moved it around. They also buried it online,” she added.

“They were mad you published your book excerpt in New York magazine?” Mr Tacopina asked, which Ms Carroll confirmed, later adding that Ms Garcia “hated me and she loathed me”.

“When the president of the US called me a liar for three straight days, my trustworthiness crumbled,” she said.

Tacopina brings up 2012 Law and Order SVU episode about dressing room rape

Monday 1 May 2023 20:05 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Tacopina showed a message Ms Carroll sent to her friend Carol Martin.

“Do not worry. I have been walking these great New York Streets the last six days ALONE and at night, and ALL DAY LONG and receive nothing but thanks! and thumbs up! It is the opposite of ‘concern,’” she wrote, according to Law & Crime.

Mr Tacopina asked Ms Carroll if she was aware of an episode of Law & Order SVU which included a fantasy about a woman being raped in a dressing room at the department store where Mr Trump’s alleged attack took place.

Mr Trump’s attorney then went on to show her an email from someone telling her about that episode.

“I’m surprised this sort of plot is not seen more often,” Ms Carroll told the reader.

Donald Trump says ‘it’s great to be home’ as he arrives in Scotland amid slew of lawsuits

Monday 1 May 2023 20:00 , Tara Cobham

Former US president Donald Trump has touched down in Scotland, declaring “it’s great to be home”, as he visits his golf courses ahead of a trip to Ireland.

Mr Trump landed in Aberdeen on Monday morning having announced he will be opening a “spectacular” second course at the Menie Estate in the north-east of the country.

He arrived at Aberdeen Airport at about 11.30am and was met by two pipers, a red carpet and 10-vehicle motorcade. He told reporters waiting on the tarmac, “It’s great to be home,” referencing the fact Scotland is the home of his mother. He put his fist in the air and then stepped into a vehicle parked at the bottom of the plane steps.

Read more:

Trump says ‘it’s great to be home’ as he arrives in Scotland amid slew of lawsuits