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April 25 (UPI) -- The defamation and battery case against former President Donald Trump got underway Tuesday as the lawyer for writer E. Jean Carroll, who says Trump raped her in a New York City department store in the 1990s, told the jury the former president "banged the door closed and lunged at her." Lawyers for both sides concluded their opening statements Tuesday afternoon following the selection of a jury made up of six men and three women.
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Carroll's lawyer, Shawn Crowley, told jurors, "Donald Trump assaulted Carroll in 1996 and defamed her when he said she made it up." Trump's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, argued that "she is doing this for money, political reasons, and status."
She filed the lawsuit to "sell a book, hurt [Trump] politically, and inject herself into the spotlight," Tacopina said.
"The evidence will show that he has told lie after lie in this case," Crowley countered.
Carroll filed the lawsuit in November, claiming Trump defamed her in a 2022 Truth Social post when he called her allegations a "hoax and a lie." She added the battery charge after New York passed the Adult Survivors Act, allowing victims to file civil suits beyond the criminal statute of limitations.
Carroll's rape allegations were first published in New York magazine in June 2019 while Trump was president, with an excerpt from her book What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal.
In the article, Carroll said Trump approached her in 1996 at Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan, where she said the former real estate tycoon followed her into a fitting room and raped her.
They had "moved through the store laughing and joking" before "everything changed," Crowley told the jury Tuesday. "The truth is she didn't see him as a threat that day, but she was wrong."
"Suddenly Ms. Carroll was all over the headlines. The most powerful person in the world ... had branded her a liar," Crowley said.
Trump's lawyer told the jury Carroll's "story isn't true" and lacks facts.
"E. Jean Carroll cannot produce objective evidence to back up her claim, because it didn't occur," Tacopina said. "She can't tell you the date that she claims to have been raped."
"E. Jean Carroll fabricated a story about Donald Trump while he was president and then made that story the center of her life and lifestyle," Tacopina told the jury.
Senior U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan is weighing whether or not Trump's lawyers can tell jurors that the legal fees of plaintiff E. Jean Carroll are being paid by a major Democratic donor.
Carroll's lawyers earlier this month disclosed that a non-profit funded by billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman was covering her legal expenses.
In a deposition last fall, Carroll said she was not receiving any help covering legal fees.
Hoffman has previously said publicly he is not attempting to hide his financial contribution to Carroll's legal team.
A total of 10 potential jurors were dismissed near the start of the process after being asked if they thought they could render an impartial verdict.
The judge previously denied a request for the jury to be instructed Trump was "excused" from attending court unless called to testify.
He also previously denied a request by Trump's lawyers to delay the start of the trial by a month.
Carroll's lawyers have indicated they have no plans to call the former president to the stand. Trump is listed as a defense witness, but it is not clear if he will be called to testify.
The trial is expected to last around five days.
