After losing his first rape defamation trial against E. Jean Carroll, former President Donald Trump has altered his approach and adopted a new strategy: blame the victim.
A jury last year already concluded that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll decades ago in a Manhattan department store. But the matter is back in court as she seeks retribution over the false denials he made from the White House in 2019—which brought a flood of hate from MAGA diehards.
And if you thought the former president had learned his lesson after the first trial or now during this second one, think again.
ADVERTISEMENT
Trump’s team is leaning into arguments that Carroll is to blame for ruining her reputation. Essentially, Trump’s lawyers are arguing, Carroll asked for it.
When defense attorney Alina Habba delivered her opening statement, she justified Trump’s lies by bizarrely arguing that Carroll had a “duty” to limit the harm resulting from her own decision to come out about the sexual abuse—hinting that Carroll could have avoided TV interviews and social media after accusing the most powerful politician in the world of rape.
But Habba went much further, describing the hate mail and rape threats Carroll has received after going public as a natural and expected result the journalist should have considered before coming forward.
“She had a duty to mitigate the effects of those statements, not exacerbate them,” Habba told jurors, saying the journalist “has gone out of her way” to speak publicly about the matter.
“This has become part of her identity, because that was her plan… she has served as the catalyst,” Habba claimed. “She likes her new brand… and she has been monetizing this for years… we will show you this is someone who craves fame and will seek it wherever she can find it.”
The decision to cast Carroll as a failed minor celebrity with a comeback ploy—and the MAGA threats that followed her as some kind of natural response she should have foreseen—is a far cry from the more cautious approach Trump’s former legal counsel took at the previous iteration of this trial last year.
The first time around, Trump’s lead defense attorney tried to cautiously thread a needle—poking holes in Carroll’s story without calling her a liar to her face. The goal was different then, with the billionaire tycoon seeking to put out the blaze by simply tossing a fire blanket over it with a sweeping denial.
There was no need to argue Carroll somehow invited attacks—even the initial one—because they still claimed the sexual assault never even happened. Besides, the initial defense team recognized the bad optics of having a celebrity defense lawyer, Joe Tacopina, with his hulking frame bulging under his tailored suit, grilling the frail, 79-year-old Carroll. It would have been unthinkable to have Tacopina, with his combative tone, somehow blame Carroll for coming out in the first place.
But Tacopina quit days before this trial, and Trump’s favored TV attack dog is now off the bench.
Habba isn’t a bodybuilder in a pinstripe suit. She first popped up on Trump’s radar while hanging out Real Housewives-style at the billionaire’s New Jersey golf club (and with an actual member of that reality TV show, Siggy Flicker).
She's a fast-talking lawyer who prides herself in her fashion sense—and is viewed as the perfect foil for the longtime, chic New York advice columnist.
Habba has used that as a license to attack Carroll.
In court, Habba laid out the caveat that yes, true victims deserve to be heard. But she cast Carroll as a washed up writer seeking to capitalize on her newfound attention and “ basking in the limelight.”
“ This case.. consists of mean tweets from Twitter trolls,” she said. “As you will see, she got what she wanted.”
Carroll is expected to testify Wednesday.
