A longtime pal of E. Jean Carroll’s testified in federal court docket Tuesday that the author referred to as her “minutes” after Donald Trump allegedly raped her in a Manhattan division retailer.
“You are not going to imagine what simply occurred to me,” Lisa Birnbach recalled Carroll saying to her within the 1996 cellphone dialog.
Birnbach, a fellow author who had lately interviewed Trump, described Carroll as sounding “breathless, hyperventilating” and “emotional” in the course of the cellphone name.
“Her voice was doing all kinds of issues,” Birnbach advised jurors within the Manhattan court docket, the place Carroll is suing Trump for battery and defamation.
Birnbach stated Carroll advised her she’d been procuring with Trump in Bergdorf Goodman earlier than he accosted her in a dressing room and “penetrated” her.
“I stated, ‘Jean, he raped you. You must go to the police,'” Birnbach testified. “She stated, ‘No, no. I do not need to go to the police.'”
Birnbach stated she provided to escort Carroll to the police station however she refused to go earlier than making Birnbach vow to not inform anybody else what she’d simply advised her.
“She stated, ‘Promise me you’ll by no means converse of this once more and you’ll inform nobody,’ and I promised her each these issues,” Birnbach stated, including that she stored her phrase.
“It was her life, her story, not my story, and she or he clearly did not need to inform anybody else what occurred and I honored that,” Birnbach stated. Over time, she stated she “buried” the data in her thoughts and “as life went on it was simpler not to consider it.”
She stated they did not converse in regards to the incident once more till 2019, when Carroll was writing a guide during which she went public together with her account.
“After I learn the excerpts I referred to as her and advised her how courageous she was,” Birnbach stated.
She stated she was testifying voluntarily, though she’d been subjected to on-line hate when she first corroborated Carroll’s account publicly in 2019.
“I’m right here as a result of my good pal, who is an efficient individual” had “advised me one thing horrible that occurred to her,” Birnbach stated, and “I would like the world to know that she was telling the reality.”Â
Trump, who was president on the time the guide got here out, has denied Carroll’s claims, calling them a “hoax” and a “con job.”
Birnbach, one of many authors of the best-selling “The Official Preppy Handbook,” acknowledged she’s a longtime Democrat who’s been vital of Trump prior to now. Requested by Carroll’s lawyer if she’d ever referred to Trump as a “narcissistic sociopath,” Birnbach stated, “That sounds proper.”
One other Trump accuser testifies
Additionally testifying Tuesday was Jessica Leeds, an 81-year-old retired stockbroker who has claimed Trump groped her on an airplane within the late Nineteen Seventies.
Leeds testified the alleged incident occurred in 1978 or 1979 on a flight to New York. She stated she’d been sitting in coach when a stewardess requested if she needed to maneuver as much as top notch.
“I stated sure, after all,” Leeds stated. Her new seat mate launched himself as Donald Trump. “I didn’t know who he was,” she stated.
She stated they chatted for some time and after they ate, he instantly “tried to kiss me” and allegedly began grabbing her breast. It was “like he had 40 zillion palms,” Leeds stated.
She stated whereas the alleged assault appeared prefer it went on “eternally,” it most likely lasted “a number of seconds.” She stated she was capable of break free from Trump and went again to her seat in coach.
She stated she by no means advised anybody in regards to the alleged assault till 2016, when it appeared he had a practical shot on the presidency.
“I began telling everybody … my household, my youngsters, my mates, neighbors, guide membership, anyone who would hearken to me, as a result of I believed he was not the type of individual we would like as president,” Leeds stated.
Trump has denied Leeds’ account and mocked her after she got here ahead publicly shortly earlier than the election, saying “She wouldn’t be my first selection.”
