Trump lawyer cross-examines accuser at rape lawsuit trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s lawyer began grilling writer E. Jean Carroll in court Thursday about a 1990s encounter at a Manhattan department store that she says ended with Trump raping her — an account she acknowledged contained some details that were “difficult to conceive of.”

Lawyer Joseph Tacopina eased into Carroll's cross-examination at a New York civil trial, questioning the validity of her bombshell claims while suggesting she only came forward with them decades later, in 2019, because of her disdain for Trump's politics and because she wanted to sell copies of her book.

Tacopina irritated Carroll by using the word “supposedly” to cast doubt on her rape claim, drawing an immediate and stern rebuke from the writer.

“Not supposedly. I was raped,” she said.

“That's your version, Ms. Carroll, that you were raped,” Tacopina said.

“Those are the facts,” she replied.

Tacopina promised to delve deeper into Carroll’s alleged encounter with Trump, in a dressing room at luxury retailer Bergdorf Goodman, in what could end up being several days of cross-examination.

Carroll, 79, started testifying Wednesday and, under questioning by her own lawyer, told jurors how a chance encounter with Trump at the store in spring 1996 turned from flirtatious frivolity in the desolate lingerie section into a violent sexual attack.

Carroll said Trump slammed her against a wall, yanked down her tights and raped h...