E. Jean Carroll to Trump lawyer: ‘I thought it was time not to be silent’

Writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused former President Trump of raping her in the 1990s, said during her second day on the stand that she came forward with the allegations in 2019 because of the #MeToo movement.

“I thought it was time not to be silent,” Carroll said amid questioning from Trump attorney Joe Tacopina on Thursday, according to ABC News.

While Carroll said she previously felt deterred from speaking out over fears that Trump would retaliate, she said she was inspired by the impact of the women who came forward with allegations against former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

“When that happened, across the country, women began telling their stories,” Carroll said, according to ABC News. “And I was flummoxed. Can we actually speak up and not be pummeled? I thought, well, this may be a way to change the culture of sexual violence.”

“So it was Harvey Weinstein and all the women against him that caused you to leap into action?” Tacopina asked.

“It caused me to realize that staying silent does not work,” Carroll responded. “We have a chance of limiting the harm that happens.”

Carroll, 79, has accused Trump of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s.

The writer is suing the former president and 2024 Republican frontrunner for battery and defamation, alleging that Trump damaged her reputation with “false and insulting” statements he made in his denials of the assault.