Former Elle Magazine writer E. Jean Carroll said on Wednesday that she believes if President Donald Trump had testified in the first civil trial she brought against him, he might have persuaded a single juror to not find him liable for battery and defamation.
Carroll sued Trump for rape and defamation, alleging he raped her in a dressing room at Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s, with a jury finding Trump liable for battery and defamation — but not rape — in May 2023. Carroll said in a joint Substack stream with former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance that she thinks the makeup of the jury would have benefited Trump had he taken the stand.
READ: White House Eyes “Pocket Rescission” To Bypass Congress On Spending Cuts
“Honestly, without pulling any punches — me to you, Joyce … This is the first trial. Trump was out on that golf course in Doonbeg, Ireland, saying, ‘Oh, I got to go back because this woman I’ve never met.’ And [attorney Joe] Tacopina talked him into not coming,” Carroll said. “If he had come to court, of course [lawyer] Robbie Kaplan would have cross-examined him for about seven hours, and he probably would not have survived that.”
“But Trump … convinced half the nation to vote for him for president. They tried to impeach him twice and yet he came back. He was running in first place for president when Tacopina talked him out of it. I think if he had come back and gone on the stand, I think he could have convinced one juror,” she continued. “One juror. And I think he could have hung the jury. There were several people on our jury from upstate New York, which is Trump country. Remember, this was not a Manhattan jury. This was an upstate, upper-county — Orange County, by the way is Trump.”
Trump won Orange County by over 8% against former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, according to Spectrum News 1.
READ: Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Louisiana’s Ten Commandments Classroom Law
“So we did not have a liberal, avocado-toast-eatin’ jury. We had an upstate, Trump-favoring jury … I think if he had come back and sat through the eight hours of Robbie Kaplan’s cross-examination — if he had lived through that — I think he could have convinced one juror,” Carroll added. “And I think he could have hung it.”
Carroll sued Trump after he denied even knowing her and called her accusations a “hoax and a lie.” The jury ultimately awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.
A second jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in January 2024 in a separate defamation trial.
Carroll also went on a Tuesday rant about how she plans to seek retribution against Trump by using the money she has been awarded — which she has not yet received — to fund causes she thinks will enrage Trump, expressing delight at the idea.
Trump has criticized both verdicts, calling them “absolutely ridiculous” in a January 2024 Truth Social post.
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Connect with us: Follow the Tampa Free Press on Facebook and Twitter for breaking news and updates.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox.
First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
