Trump Warned To Stay Off Social Media After Posts Calling E. Jean Carroll Rape Trial A ‘Scam’

Topline

Former President Donald Trump was warned to stop posting on social media about an ongoing trial in which he is accused of rape after he posted twice on Truth Social Wednesday morning labelling the case a “scam” and calling his accuser a liar.

E. Jean Carroll arrived in Manhattan on Tuesday for the start of her civil trial against Trump.

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Key Facts

Trump is not appearing in court for a trial brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, who is alleging he raped her in a department store almost 30 years ago, but he took to Truth Social as the trial began to again call into question Carroll’s claims.

Along with calling the case a “scam” and a “witch hunt,” he posted that Carroll’s lawyer is a “political operative, financed by a big political donor,” and compared Carroll to Monica Lewinsky.

Carroll’s lawyer argued the posts violate two court orders not to discuss the lawyers involved in the case or a dispute to obtain a DNA sample from Trump, which he also posted about, according to Adam Klasfeld, a Law & Crime News reporter live tweeting the proceedings.

Judge Lewis Kaplan said the online comments were “entirely inappropriate” while the case was ongoing and asked Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, to refrain from further posting—Tacopina agreed, according to reports.

The Truth Social posts were deleted about two hours after they were posted.

Tangent

In his Wednesday posts, Trump also wrote about the dress Carroll says she was wearing during the alleged rape, which has been the point of some controversy. Carroll requested a DNA sample from Trump in 2020 to compare with male DNA on the dress, but Trump did not agree to provide a sample until Tacopina became his lawyer in January 2023. Tacopina said they would provide a DNA sample, but Judge Kaplan dismissed the offer, saying it was a tactic to delay the trial. In his Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “she said there was a dress…then didn’t want to produce it. The dress should be allowed to be part of the case.” The dress still may be used as evidence in the case and, in response to the posts, Kaplan reportedly said Trump “may or may not be tampering with a new source of potential liability.”

Key Background

Carroll alleges Trump raped her in a dressing room in the department store Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s after they had been shopping together. A Bergdorf Goodman employee testified this morning, describing what the store is like inside and whether there were security cameras. The trial went into recess around 11 a.m. and Carroll is set to testify Wednesday afternoon.

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