Donald Trump Rape Trial: Judge Takes Shot at Former President

The Donald Trump rape trial has now kicked off in New York. The judge for the civil lawsuit filed by columnist E. Jean Carroll gave Trump a stern warning.

With violent historical events like January 6, it has been shown that Trump has the tendency to incite his supporters to violence when things do not go his way. U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told the attorneys for both parties to advise their clients against "making any statements that will incite violence or civil unrest."

Kaplan noted that he did not mean to accuse either side of misconduct. However, the judge stated that he said this to "try to avoid problems down the road." The Business Insider noted that this was a thinly-veiled attempt to silence Trump during the rape trial, given his tendencies to incite violence.

Trump himself has not weighed in on the first day of the civil case yet, but Trump's communications director Steven Cheung released a statement, claiming that Carroll's case against Trump lacks merit and called it a "witch hunt targeted to interfere and tamper with a Presidential election." He blamed the Democrats for resurfacing a case that happened in the 1990s.

Lawyers Make Opening Arguments for the Donald Trump Rape Trial

As the trial finally began, Carroll's lawyer, Shawn Crowley, told the 9-person jury that the moment they went inside the dressing room of the luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman, everything changed.

"Trump was almost twice her size," Crowley stated in his opening argument. "He held down her arm, pulled down her tights, and then he sexually assaulted her."

Donald Trump was not in New York for the first day of the trial as he was not required to attend. However, his lawyer, Joe Tacopina, was, and he portrayed Carroll's claim as a "sick story." He assured jury members that even though they may hate his client, they can still side with him.

"You can hate Donald Trump. It's OK," Tacopina told jurors. "But there's a time and a secret place for that. It's called a ballot box. Not here, in a court of law."

He also argued that Carroll herself cannot recall the date of when exactly the alleged rape happened and added that evidence will show that the former Elle magazine columnist was lying.

However, Crowley countered Tacopina as E. Jean Carroll's story can be corroborated by two friends, as well as former Bergdorf Goodman employees. The Carroll lawyer also stated that Trump has a pattern of sexual assault, with two dozen women coming out and accusing him of such.

What Was the E. Jean Carroll Rape Case About?

Former Elle Magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll alleges that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman. She has largely stayed silent on the matter but has come out in 2019 after releasing her memoir.

In his statement to the jury, Crowley said that Trump "used the most powerful platform on earth to lie about what he had done, attack Ms. Carroll's integrity, and insult her appearance."

Trump has since denied this and argued that she was not his type, with his attorney, Tacopina, arguing that she is only doing this for financial gain. The former president himself does not plan to attend the trial, but Carroll has said she will attend every single session.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Here's what happened on the first day of the rape allegation civil trial against Trump - CNN