On Wednesday, E. Jean Carroll took the stand in a Manhattan federal court to tell her side of the story as it pertains to her battery and defamation lawsuit against former President Trump.
Carroll alleges that in 1996, Trump violently raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room and, later, publicly denied her claims to the fact, which threatened to tarnish her reputation as a journalist.
"I'm here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn't happen," Carroll testified. "He lied and shattered my reputation and I'm here to try to get my life back."
Recounting the events of 1996, Carroll stated that Trump asked her to join him at the NY department store so that he could get her advice on a present he needed to purchase but, once inside, things took a harrowing turn.
According to reporting by CNN, Carroll said that the vibe between her and Trump was playful and that, at one point, Trump picked out a sheer gray bodysuit in the store's lingerie department. When Trump suggested that she try it on, she said he should do it himself.
After Trump gestured that she enter a dressing room with him, she did so, which she now regrets.
"I didn't picture anything about what was about to happen," Carroll said. "That open door has plagued me for years because I just walked into it, walked in."
Alone in the dressing room together, Carroll alleges that Trump shoved her against the wall and proceeded to insert his fingers inside of her vagina, and then his penis, which led to injury.
According to Carroll, she got away from Trump by putting her knee up and pushing him off of her.
"I'm proud to say I did get out," Carroll said on the stand, showing visible signs of distress.
Following the attack, she confided in a friend and was initially resolved to never speak of the alleged attack again out of fear of retaliation.
"I was frightened of Donald Trump. I thought he would retaliate and I was ashamed. I thought it was my fault," Carroll said.
With all this coming to a head so many years later, Carroll said on Wednesday that she's finally "settling a personal score."
He called me a liar repeatedly and it really has decimated my reputation," she said. "I'm a journalist – the one thing I have to have is the trust of the readers."
Trump continues to deny Carroll's claims in the face of the trial, still underway.
