Thread by @KlasfeldReports

Good morning from New York.

E. Jean Carroll's cross-examination is expected to continue today in her civil rape case against former President Trump.

We'll be following the proceedings live, @lawcrimenews.

ICYMI: The questioning so far lawandcrime.com/live-trials/e-…

SDNY stalwart reporter @vicbekiempis captured this scene outside the court, with Trump's attorney being heckled by protesters.

We've both covered this beat a while — and that's not a usual sight with defense attorneys.

https://twitter.com/vicbekiempis/status/1653025534165635077?s=20

Early this morning, Trump's attorney Joe Tacopina filed this motion for a mistrial, raising seven complaints — including Judge Kaplan spelling out the Jonathan Swift reference in the E. Jean Carroll's book title.

Read the motion in full here. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Today's proceedings have begun with pre-trial arguments about the permissible boundaries of Joe Tacopina's questioning of E. Jean Carroll's dress.

Carroll is on the witness stand.

The jury isn't yet in the court.

The significance of this is, the subject of DNA evidence is excluded from trial.

Judge Kaplan made pointed remarks about Trump refusing to provide genetic material for years.

Background.

lawandcrime.com/live-trials/e-…

The jury enters, and we've begun.

Tacopina asks Carroll about her continuing to shop at Bergdorf after her alleged rape.

Q: You've made many purchases at Bergdorf Goodman since 1995 and 1996?

Carroll says she hasn't made "many" purchases, but she has made "several."

Tacopina shows the jury a list of her purchases there on more than 20 different dates to the tune of more than $13,000.

Tacopina's questioning shifts to Carroll's viewership of "The Apprentice." He says that she wrote on Facebook that she was a "MASSIVE" fan.

Carroll: "I had never seen such a witty competition on television."

"It was a very good television show," Carroll says.

Tacopina asks if Carroll recalls making a joke about Trump on Facebook.

Carroll: "Mr. Tacopina, I made several jokes about Donald Trump."

Tacopina shows the jury Carroll's Facebook post from Aug. 6, 2012:

"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.)"

Blink and you might have missed it:

Judge Kaplan denied Tacopina's mistrial motion without comment this morning before trial officially began.

More on that in a story later.

In a video deposition, Carroll said she never called the police for an alleged sex assault. Tacopina asks whether she went to the police for any other reason.

Carroll: "I was born in 1943. I am a member of the silent generation."

Carroll (cont'd): "The fact that I did not go to the police is not surprising for someone of my age."

Tacopina asks for that to be stricken as non-responsive. Granted.

Asked by Tacopina, Carroll acknowledges that she called the police about an attack on a friend's mailbox. Carroll explains the difference.

Carroll: "I was ashamed of what happened. I thought it was my fault. I would never, never, never go to the police, ever."

Tacopina shows Carroll her advice columns advising women to report rape and abuse to the police.

Q: There were numerous times when you've advised your readers to call the police, report them to the New York City sex crimes hotline, etc.

A: Yes.

Tacopina's questioning turns, once again, to @gtconway3d.

Q: Did Mr. Conway tell you that you should seriously think about suing Donald Trump?
A: No.

He noted that Conway recommended an attorney to Carroll, whom she met shortly after.

Tacopina turns to Carroll suing Trump, not Les Moonves.

By denying Carroll's accusations, Tacopina said, Moonves called her a liar.

Carroll: "No, he just denied it."

"He didn't call me names. He didn't grind my face into the mud like Donald Trump did."

Carroll notes that Moonves's rote denial wasn't just of her.

"I'm included in a batch of denying 12 women," she says, referring to the Moonves denial.

Tacopina asks for a morning recess for guidance about the permissible boundaries of his next line of questioning.

Granted.

15 minute break.

Judge Kaplan asks what "evidentiary treats" we have in store for us.

Tacopina says he's going to ask about Carroll's interview with Natasha Stoynoff, another Trump accuser.

Background here. lawandcrime.com/live-trials/e-…

Tacopina says that Carroll asked Stoynoff whether Trump was "grinding" against her. He argues that this suggests coaching.

Judge Kaplan seems skeptical about its admissibility. (He hasn't ruled yet.)

ICYMI: Kaplan's denial of Tacopina's mistrial motion earlier.

https://twitter.com/lawcrimenews/status/1653056491950055427?s=20

Judge Kaplan:

"I recognize what you're trying to do."

He summarizes the argument.

Kaplan: "Your interpretation of that that you want to argue to the jury is that means Ms. Carroll was trying to suggest that Ms. Stoynoff quote-unquote 'remember' that that happened."

Kaplan, continues, that Tacopina's suggestion is:

"She was trying to put words in the witness's mouth."

The judge says it's "at least arguable that she asked three times" because Stoynoff never gave a "straight answer."

Judge: "I think you're allowed to go into it."

But, the judge says, the question is how — in a way that doesn't needlessly prolong it and falls within rules of evidence.

Judge Kaplan quips to Tacopina, who filed a mistrial motion based on his Jonathan Swift remark:

"I wouldn't suggest it's satire. That seems to upset you."

Laughter in the courtroom.

Background: Why that's a laugh line. lawandcrime.com/live-trials/e-…

The jury re-enters.

Judge Kaplan informs them that they're "on or ahead of schedule" for the remainder of trial.

Tacopina asks Carroll whether she ever asked in a tweet why isn't a rape allegation worth an impeachment inquiry.

Carroll says she doesn't remember that, but she doesn't deny it.

(Note: In fact, Carroll was only quoting that question on Twitter.)

https://twitter.com/ejeancarroll/status/1197892846029803521?s=20

Tacopina's questioning turns to Stoynoff, asking whether Carroll tried to get her to agree that Trump was grinding against her.

Carroll says she wasn't trying to do that. She was asking about Stoynoff's memories.

Tacopina's questioning turns to Carroll's TV interviews after she went forward in "The Cut."

He then pivots to her Anderson Cooper interview on June 24, 2019.

The interview plays at length.

Tacopina questions her about the last line of the interview, that most people think of rape as being sexy.

Her attorneys raised this topic on direct. She said then, and now, that the entertainment industry uses it to draw an audience in "Game of Thrones" and other shows.

Carroll: "Rape is everywhere in our entertainment world, and it is used because it excites people and draws an audience."

Q: You are comparing television rape scenes and real-life rape scenes?

A: No, I'm not. [...]

She repeats her earlier statement that rape is one of the worst things that could happen to a woman or a man.

Tacopina asks Carroll about her remark about how she expected to "dine out on the story forever," referring to helping Trump shop for a gift in Bergdorf Goodman.

Carroll answers:

"It was such a New York story and such a happy story, and then, of course, it turned tragic."

Tacopina plays a clip from the "Cheering for Democracy" podcast, in which Carroll says that she has enough Substack subscribers to make more money writing independently.

"So long, Elle!" Carroll exclaims in the podcast.

Carroll reiterates her point that's the difference between her public and private personas:

"If I walked into courtroom and you said — 'Hi E. Jean. How are you?' — I'd say, 'I'm fine. I'm fabulous.'"

"I always say I'm fine."

"I put up a front."

Q: You always say that you're fabulous now.
A: Of course, I do. I don't want anyone to know that I suffer.

She said that's part of her being an advice columnist: Other people come to her for advice, not the other way around, she notes.

Tacopina says that Carroll remarked status is everything.

Carroll: "Status is important in New York. That's for sure."

Tacopina asks about her media appearances about her book.

Carroll: "It's a good thing when a book comes out to let people know: 'I have a book out. It's about my life.'"

Tacopina noted that Carroll got emotional on the witness stand early in her testimony. He asks her whether that ever happened during her many media appearances.

Carroll: "I don't believe it did, no."

Lunch recess.

We're back.

Tacopina estimates that he has less than an hour left of cross-ex.

Tacopina displays E. Jean Carroll's message to friend Carol Martin:

"Do not worry. I have been walking these great New York Streets the last six days ALONE and at night, and ALL DAY LONG and receive nothing but thanks! and thumbs up! It is the opposite of 'concern.'"

Tacopina asks whether Carroll was aware of a 2012 Law & Order SVU episode, with a plot point about a fantasy about a woman being raped in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman.

He then shows her an email of someone informing her of that episode.

Carroll replied to the reader: "I’m surprised this sort of plot is not seen more often."

Tacopina plays Carroll's interview on a podcast, appearing to contradict her testimony on why she says she never had sex again after Trump allegedly raped her.

The short answer, she said earlier, was Trump raped her.

On the podcast, she said, "I think it wasn't because of him."

Carroll said she thinks it's because she didn't have the luck to meet someone to make her "desirous" again.

Tacopina asks Carroll about her "Hideous Men" of New York walking tour.

Carroll outlines a rough itinerary:

* Tiffany's (because women were told not to talk at meetings)
* NBC (at Rockefeller Center)
* Fox News
* CBS
* The former site of Studio 54

Cross-examination ends with Carroll speaking in a podcast about her "fabulous" life recently, adding that she's had lots of support and people "buoying me up."

On redirect, Carroll is asked about finding happiness.

"That's the goal of all of us in this courtroom: To find a little bit of happiness."

Carroll, fighting back emotion:

"Instead of living with the feeling that I caused this horrible thing to happen, by...

(long pause)

"telling my story, I started to take a little bit of control. And it's been a long way."

Carroll's voice wavers as she adds:

"And this is, a very, satisfying moment for me to be here to answer your questions."

Carroll's attorney hits back at the subtext of Tacopina's line of questioning about a plot point in "Law & Order SVU":

Q: "Are you making up your accusation based on what happened in a popular TV show?"

A: "No, no."

Carroll's attorney Michael Ferrara asked how many men appeared on her "hideous" list, and she answers: 21.

Asked how many men she's met in her life, she answers: "Thousands," and thousands of them aren't "hideous."

Most of them are "pretty wonderful guys."

A series of questions goes into what Carroll says she distinctly remembers: Trump shutting the door, penetrating her, and her not consenting.

She testifies about her mindset right after.

"It seemed like the whole front of my head had been wiped out. I couldn’t think."

Brief re-cross by Tacopina:

Tacopina: "Are you happy, or are you not happy now?"

Carroll: "I'm happy."

Tacopina: "Ok."

Carroll: "with undertones."

"Of unhappiness," she explains.

Tacopina declares that he doesn't question how a "true" rape victim should respond and then rattles off Carroll's explanations why she didn't scream.

Judge Kaplan, clearly peeved, snaps:

"Mr. Tacopina, you get to have a closing argument in the case after I instruct a jury."

Kaplan adds:

"After, not before."

After three days of contentious and emotional examination, Carroll's long stint on the witness stand ends.

Look for a wrap-up soon, @lawcrimenews