Friend of E. Jean Carroll Says Writer Called Her Minutes After Alleged Assault by Trump
E. Jean Carroll arrives at federal court in New York. Photo: Seth Wenig/Associated Press By Corinne Ramey and James Fanelli May 2, 2023 12:48 pm ET A friend of E. Jean Carroll testified Tuesday that the writer called her about five minutes after she was allegedly raped by Donald Trump, recounting in detail an encounter at the Bergdorf Goodman department store. Lisa Birnbach, a writer and magazine editor, is one of two women whom Ms. Carroll has said she told about the alleged sexual assault shortly after it occurred in the mid-1990s. The two spoke on the phone for about three or four minutes, Ms. Birnbach told the jury. “She said, ‘Lisa, you’re not going to believe what happened
E. Jean Carroll arrives at federal court in New York.
Photo: Seth Wenig/Associated Press
A friend of E. Jean Carroll testified Tuesday that the writer called her about five minutes after she was allegedly raped by Donald Trump, recounting in detail an encounter at the Bergdorf Goodman department store.
Lisa Birnbach, a writer and magazine editor, is one of two women whom Ms. Carroll has said she told about the alleged sexual assault shortly after it occurred in the mid-1990s. The two spoke on the phone for about three or four minutes, Ms. Birnbach told the jury.
“She said, ‘Lisa, you’re not going to believe what happened to me,’” Ms. Birnbach testified. She recounted how Ms. Carroll had told her that she ran into Mr. Trump at Bergdorf’s, then went with him into a dressing room in the lingerie section.
“E. Jean said to me many times, ‘He pulled down my tights, he pulled down my tights,’” Ms. Birnbach said. Ms. Birnbach said that Ms. Carroll then told her how Mr. Trump sexually assaulted her and she fought back.
Ms. Birnbach told the jury she ducked out of the room, out of the earshot of her children. “I whispered, ‘E. Jean, he raped you. You should go to the police,’” Ms. Birnbach said.
“She said, ‘I don’t want to go to the police,’” Ms. Birnbach told the jury. She said Ms. Carroll didn’t use the word rape, but told her, “We had a fight.”
Lisa Birnbach is one of two women whom Ms. Carroll has said she told about the alleged sexual assault shortly after it occurred in the mid-1990s.
Photo: Seth Wenig/Associated Press
Ms. Birnbach testified during the second week of the trial of the 2022 civil lawsuit filed by Ms. Carroll against Mr. Trump, making battery and defamation claims. Ms. Carroll has alleged that Mr. Trump raped her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City around 1996. Mr. Trump has denied the allegations and said Ms. Carroll is motivated by publicity and a desire to sell books.
Ms. Birnbach told the jury that she had known Ms. Carroll since the 1990s, when the two were professional friends. In 1996, Ms. Birnbach said, she went to Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to interview him for an article that was later published in New York Magazine, titled “Mi Casa es Su Casa.”
Ms. Birnbach told the jury that Ms. Carroll called her in 1996, after that trip.
“I believe E. Jean called me, of all her friends and acquaintances, because she knew I had just been at Mar-a-Lago,” she told the jury. Ms. Birnbach said that she knew it was around 6 or 7 p.m., because she recalls feeding her two young children.
Ms. Birnbach said that after the call, she honored her friend’s request and didn’t mention the event for years.
During cross examination, W. Perry Brandt, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, portrayed Ms. Birnbach, a registered Democrat, as biased and politically motivated. He noted that she had donated to candidates including Hillary Clinton and President Biden.
Mr. Brandt read a series of comments that he said Ms. Birnbach made about the former president, including during podcast interviews. The lawyer asked if she had called Mr. Trump “a Russian agent, a “narcissistic sociopath” and “delusional.”
“Sounds like something I would say,” Ms. Birnbach said.
Write to Corinne Ramey at [email protected] and James Fanelli at [email protected]
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