Former U.S. President Donald Trump has once again caused controversial dissension, facing allegations of sexual assault, and his legal rights and authorities are in despair. The allegations precede decades and have been a serious concern since Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign when a tape of him making sexually offensive comments about women was released. Various new outlets and sources reported several women subsequently alleging Donald Trump of unwanted sexual advances and harassment over the years. Republican lawmakers have strongly defended Trump and dismissed the allegations as baseless. The proclamations have reappeared after Trump’s recent political activity and extended to public attention.
Advice columnist and author Elizabeth Jean Carroll made the most recent public accusation during Trump’s presidency. E. Jean Carroll filed 2 civil lawsuits in 2019 and then in 2022. The National Public Radio (NPR) states Trump was accused of defamation and battery, seeking unspecified damages. Carroll alleged that Trump attacked her in the mid-1990s without specifically using the word ‘rape’. A civil trial will happen later this month for Trump’s criminal indictment. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan postponed the defamation trial in Carroll’s first lawsuit and delayed it indefinitely, the New York Times relays. Even though the case is not likely to go to trial soon, a civil trial on the lawsuit filed last year is arranged to begin on April 25. He’s scheduled to stand trial on both of Carroll’s claims in federal court in New York in April, the Washington Post reports. Trump pursues to get haunted by past inappropriate advances with women. Therefore, it endures uncertain whether he will testify in the case.
Carroll declared that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at a luxury department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. According to the NPR, the incident allegedly took place at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan estimated time in 1995-1996. Carroll’s complaint expresses that Trump was shopping for a gift for another woman. Carroll claims after asking for her advice and shopping together, he pushed her into a dressing room and attacked her. Carroll is among more than a dozen women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct over the years, the New York Times reports. Carroll came forward when Trump was elected as president. Carroll stood up for herself and other victims of sexual harassment by publishing her experiences in 2019 in New York Magazine as an excerpt of her memoir What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal [The Cut]. In the excerpt, Carroll indicates she didn’t report to the police and told 2 friends due to her cowardice, The Cut announces. “Receiving death threats, being driven from my home, being dismissed, being dragged through the mud, and joining the 15 women who’ve come forward with credible stories about how the man grabbed, badgered, belittled, mauled, molested, and assaulted them, only to see the man turn it around, deny, threaten, and attack them, never sounded like much fun. Also, I am a coward.”, Carroll states in her excerpt broadcasted in New York Magazine. Carroll conveys her trauma due to sexual harassment and exploitation by several men through a book after breaking her silence. Trump has denied the allegations, and has been calling them “fabrications” and his accusers “political operatives” and “horrible, horrible liars” [The Guardian]. He stated he has never met Carroll despite photographic concrete evidence.
The allegations against Trump are not the first time a U.S. President has faced accusations of sexual misconduct. Former President Bill Clinton first denied having sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky, who was an intern for the White House, during a videotaped deposition in a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by Paula Corbin Jones, a former Arkansas state employee who claimed that Mr. Clinton had exposed himself to her and propositioned her in a hotel room in 1991 when he was governor, the New York Times reports.
In conclusion, the accusations against Trump have led to a controversial discussion while remaining unclear and obscure whether Trump will face consequences for his misconduct. On the other hand, we must continue to hold those in commanding positions who have complete control responsible for their actions and ensure that justice is served.
Edited by: Yağmur Ece Nisanoğlu
Works Cited
Sullivan, Becky. “What to Know about the Trump-E. Jean Carroll Trial That Is Set to Begin This Month.” NPR, NPR, 9 Apr. 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/04/09/1168664355/trump-e-jean-carroll-lawsuit-trial.
Berman, Mark, and Shayna Jacobs. “What to Know about the Trump-E. Jean Carroll Civil Case.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 26 Apr. 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/01/trump-e-jean-carroll-rape-lawsuit/.
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Carroll, E. Jean. “Donald Trump Assaulted Me, but He's Not Alone on My List of Hideous Men.” The Cut, 21 June 2019, https://www.thecut.com/2019/06/donald-trump-assault-e-jean-carroll-other-hideous-men.html#_ga=2.216030806.1311924385.1561137461-253731036.1560541783.
Graves, Lucia, and Sam Morris. “The Sexual Misconduct Allegations against Donald Trump – the Full List.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 4 Feb. 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/nov/30/donald-trump-sexual-misconduct-allegations-full-list.
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Santiago, Michael M. “Jury Selection Begins In Magazine Columnist E. Jean Carroll's Rape Allegation Trial Against Donald Trump.” Getty Images, 25 Apr. 2023, https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-rise-and-resist-hold-signs-as-they-await-the-news-photo/1485108542?adppopup=true. Accessed 29 Apr. 2023.
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