One of E. Jean Carroll’s friends told a New York jury that the author called her within minutes of allegedly being sexually assaulted by Donald Trump to describe the incident in detail — a potentially crucial piece of evidence in Carroll’s civil lawsuit against the former president.
(Bloomberg) — One of E. Jean Carroll’s friends told a New York jury that the author called her within minutes of allegedly being sexually assaulted by Donald Trump to describe the incident in detail — a potentially crucial piece of evidence in Carroll’s civil lawsuit against the former president.
Lisa Birnbach, an author known for her best-selling 1980 tome The Official Preppy Handbook, told jurors on Tuesday that Carroll called from her mobile phone to say Trump had just attacked her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman lingerie department after they decided on a whim to shop together.
“Lisa, you’re not going to believe what happened to me,” Birnbach recalled Carroll saying. She described Carroll as “breathless, hyperventilating, emotional” during the phone call. “Her voice was doing all kinds of things.”
Birnbach said Carroll described being penetrated by Trump after he violently shoved her against a wall and held her there with the weight of his body. Carroll was reluctant to accept that she’d been raped, Birnbach said. She said she encouraged Carroll to report the attack.
“E. Jean said to me many times, ‘He pulled down my tights, he pulled down my tights,’” Birnbach said under questioning by Carroll’s lawyer. “She was just processing it and it had just happened to her.”
“He raped you,” Birnbach said she told Carroll. “You should go to the police.”
Carroll adamantly refused and swore Birnbach to secrecy, she said. Birnbach told the jury she never discussed the alleged rape again with Carroll until 2019.
‘Never Tell Anyone’
“She said ‘promise me you will never speak of this again, and promise me you will never tell anyone,’” Birnbach said. “I promised her both of those things.”
Birnbach testified that she’s a Democrat who does not like Trump and has repeatedly criticized him. She confirmed that at times she has publicly described the former president as a “narcissistic sociopath” and “Vladimir Putin’s agent.”
Her testimony follows Carroll’s own account on the witness stand, which spanned three days and included heated exchanges between the plaintiff and Trump’s defense attorney. Trump, who hasn’t attended the trial, denies attacking Carroll and claims she fabricated the assault to help sell a book.
Carroll, a former advice columnist with Elle magazine who also hosted a TV show, went public with her claim about Trump in 2019. She eventually disclosed that she had confided in Birnbach as well as another friend, Carol Martin, who also is expected to testify.
The jury is also expected to hear from two other women who have accused Trump of sexually assaulting them. Trump hasn’t said if he’ll testify or attend any part of the trial.
Read More: Trump Accuser Gives Jury Graphic Testimony of Rape He Denies
Birnbach testified that she’d met Trump at a party in 1995, where the real estate mogul asked her to write an article about his plan to convert his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida into a club. She said she agreed and eventually flew to Mar-a-Lago on Trump’s private jet. The story was published in New York magazine on Feb. 12, 1996.
Birnbach told the jury she believed Carroll called her because Carroll knew that Birnbach had just been at Mar-a-Lago and interacted with Trump.
She said she was surprised that Carroll had agreed to go into a dressing room with Trump.
“I thought it was kind of nutty,” Birnbach said. “I didn’t think it was dangerous, because you know I’d just spent a few days with him he didn’t strike me as dangerous.”
Birnbach said she decided to go public with early knowledge of the alleged rape because she is telling the truth.
The case is E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump, 22-cv-10016, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
–With assistance from Patricia Hurtado.
(Updates with detail from the testimony.)
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