Case for alleged rape against Trump begins next week

Former President Donald Trump’s conduct with women, something that has marked his political career, returns to center stage in a trial in which he is accused of rape.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the lawsuit brought by former women’s advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, who says Trump raped her in a high-end New York department store in the 1990s.

Trump, who is unlikely to attend the trial, has called the allegations a “total fraud.” Carroll, who is seeking unspecified damages, says his claim, inspired by the #MeToo movementseeks an accountability of the most representative of prominent men.

“I’m filing this lawsuit not just for myself, but for every woman in America who has been groped, harassed, sexually assaulted, and has raised her voice and been denigrated, humiliated, or fired,” Carroll said at the outset.

The trial puts Trump’s record with women under the microscope when try to return to the White House. But whether a rape trial would spell crisis for most candidates remains to be seen in Trump’s case.

“To the extent that the chaos around Trump is his biggest challenge, it reinforces this narrative,” said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist who helped Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign.

“What I hear the most in the Republican voter opinion groups is that they are fed up with the constant drama that accompanies Trump,” he added.

Locker room chatter?

Trump’s political rise was plagued by criticism for his attitudes and conduct toward women: his personal insults to his former Republican rival Carly Fiorina, his misogynistic comments about former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, his denigration of a former Miss Universe, and above all your rude remarksinadvertently recorded by an open mic on the show Access Hollywood.

Those comments nearly derailed his 2016 campaign and prompted a rare apology for what he called “locker room chatter.”

During the campaign and his presidency, more than a dozen women, including Carroll, accused him of sexual assault and harassment. Trump denied all the accusations. Other lawsuits were dropped or dismissed, but Carroll’s has survived.

If Trump wins, he will likely present it as another example of how he defeats what he calls spurious allegations, Conant said.

If you lose, the impact will depend on the circumstances of the verdict. Carroll asks for unspecified compensation and for Trump to retract his rejection of his claims.

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