Testimony of Final Witness in E Jean Carroll’s Lawsuit Against Trump: ‘I Believed it Then and I Still Do’

The last witness in the civil lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, filed by E Jean Carroll, who accused him of rape and defamation, gave evidence on Thursday. Carol Martin was one of the two friends whom Ms. Carroll confided in about the alleged assault, which she says happened in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s. In a Manhattan federal court, Ms. Martin was questioned about an email she had sent to Ms. Carroll in 2017, just a few weeks before Ms. Carroll began working on her 2019 book, “What do we need men for?” which marked the first public time she accused Trump of rape. Ms. Martin sent a Business Insider report an article making fun of Trump. She referred to him as “Orange Crush” and intimated that “as soon as we’re both well enuf [sic] to scheme, we must both do our patriotic duty.” Carroll responded by stating that she had “something special” for Martin. In court, Ms. Martin mentioned that the email exchange had nothing to do with Ms. Carroll’s decision to reveal her story about Mr. Trump. Also, the “something special” was a toy squirrel for Ms. Carroll’s granddaughter, according to Ms. Martin’s recollection. However, Ms. Carroll could not remember the “something special.” Ms. Martin later clarified that “scheme” referred to supporting Democratic party causes. Ms. Carroll confided in Ms. Martin about being attacked by Mr. Trump, and she described Ms. Carroll as being “clearly agitated, anxious.” Ms. Martin advised Ms. Carroll to keep quiet about the alleged assault, saying that he had a lot of attorneys and that he would “just bury her.” According to Ms. Martin, she was testifying because she wanted to support her friend and not because of her feelings about Mr. Trump. The evidentiary stage of the trial ended on Thursday, and it is expected to go to the jury early next week in New York. Mr. Trump stated on Sky News that his legal team was doing well in the case, and he flew to Ireland instead of attending the civil trial because he had a “long-standing agreement” to visit his Doonberg golf course on the Irish west coast.