'Donald Trump raped me', author E Jean Carroll testifies before jury

Former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll told a US civil trial on Wednesday that she was raped by former US president Donald Trump inside a luxury department store dressing room in New York City in 1996.

"I'm here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn't happen. He lied and shattered my reputation. I am trying to get my life back," E. Jean Carroll told a federal court, which is hearing a defamation and battery lawsuit against Trump.

Narrating her ordeal, the columnist said, Trump said he needed to buy a gift, and asked my help. I was happy. When we went to a departmental store he picked up a fur hat and led the way to the escalator.

"Donald Trump picked up a grey-blue bodysuit in the lingerie department and forced me to try it on," she told the jury.

"I had no intention of putting it on. You put it on, it's your colour, I told him in a funny way'" she told the court.

Carroll confessed that she was flirting with Trump the whole time not knowing the seriousness of the situation. "I did not imagine what was about to happen," she added.

She recalled how Trump allegedly shoved her against the wall despite her resistance and eventually inserted his fingers and then his penis inside her. I felt in the back of her head and her vagina, she added.

Trump, who is facing a slew of legal woes ahead of his 2024 run for a second term, denied all the accusations saying it is a made-up scam.

Before the testimony, the federal judge warned Trump for writing on Truth Social that the trial is "a made-up scam" and Carroll's lawyer a "political operative."