Joe Tacopina, an attorney for former President Trump in E. Jean Carroll’s civil rape trial against Trump, confronted the longtime Elle Magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll on Monday, pointing out that her rape story has remarkable similarities to a 2012 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Carroll has accused Trump of groping and raping her in a Bergdorf-Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s, pursuing this suit in November following the Adult Survivors Act going into effect, which allowed her to avoid the statute of limitations for this case.
Carroll came forward with the allegations while promoting her book What Do We Need Men For? in 2019, in which she created a list highlighting “The Most Hideous Men of My Life.” According to the columnist’s account of the alleged incident, Trump just so happened to run into her during a visit to the luxury department store. According to Carroll, the two went to the lingerie section, and he allegedly asked her to try something on for him.
Carroll then alleges he pinned her against the wall and raped her. There were no eyewitnesses to this alleged incident she claims occurred at the popular New York City department store.
Trump has forcefully denied the allegations and has highlighted the fact Carroll is backed by a Democrat megadonor.
“They got caught lying! The Miss Bergdorf Goodman case is financed by a big political donor that they tried to hide,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last week.
“Does anybody believe that I would take a then almost 60 year old woman that I didn’t know, from the front door of a very crowded department store, (with me being very well known, to put it mildly!), into a tiny dressing room, and …. her,” he continued.
“She didn’t scream? There are no witnesses? Nobody saw this? She never made a police complaint? If I was seen there with a woman-BIG PRESS. SCAM!” he added:
On Monday, Trump’s attorney also mentioned another stunning coincidence. Carroll’s description of the alleged incident is very similar to a 2012 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In that episode, titled “Theatre and Tricks,” an individual talks about a rape fantasy in Bergdorf Goodman — the same store Carroll claims the incident took place.
“Role-play took place in the dressing room of Bergdorf’s. While she was trying on lingerie I would burst in,” the character in the episode said. According to Carroll, the two were in the lingerie section, and Trump allegedly assaulted her in the dressing room.
Carroll claimed to be “aware” of the episode but denied watching it. According to the New York Post, Carroll said the similarities between what she claims happened to her and the show’s plot were “amazing.”
“An amazing coincidence?” Trump’s lawyer asked.
“Yes, it’s astonishing,” Carroll replied, ultimately denying her allegation was based on a television show:
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Tacopina also noted that Carroll did not contact the police after the alleged incident. However, she once called the police to report children hitting the mailbox at a home she was staying at one point in the past.
“So it’s your testimony you’ll call the police if a mailbox is attacked, but not if you’re personally attacked?” Tacopina pressed.
The Trump attorney also highlighted an August 2012 social media post in which Carroll asked, “Would you have sex with Donald Trump for $17,000? Even if you could a) give the money to charity? b) close your eyes? And he’s not allowed to speak.”
“So you joked around about having sex with Donald Trump for money, right?” Tacopina asked, to which Carroll replied, “yes.”
“I am a member of the Silent Generation. … Women like me were taught and trained to keep our chins up and to not complain,” Carroll said during the testimony.
As Breitbart News reported last week, Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman, who recently said he will “spend as much as I possibly can and it takes and is effective [to beat Trump]” — is funding Carroll’s case.
