The jury at Donald Trump’s upcoming civil rape trial will be anonymous, a judge ruled Thursday, citing concerns about the former president’s potential to put them in danger.
Manhattan Federal Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, presiding over writer E. Jean Carroll’s rape lawsuit against Trump, made mention of Trump’s online activity this week, in which he called on his followers to take to the streets to protest his arrest.
“Mr. Trump’s quite recent reaction to what he perceived as an imminent threat of indictment by a grand jury sitting virtually next door to this Court was to encourage ‘protest’ and to urge people to ‘take our country back.’ That reaction reportedly has been perceived by some as incitement to violence. And it bears mention that Mr. Trump repeatedly has attacked courts, judges, various law enforcement officials and other public officials, and even individual jurors in other matters,” Kaplan wrote.
“If jurors’ identities were disclosed, there would be a strong likelihood of unwanted media attention to the jurors, influence attempts, and/or of harassment or worse of jurors by supporters of Mr. Trump. Indeed, Mr. Trump himself has made critical statements on social media regarding the grand jury foreperson in Atlanta, Georgia, and the jury foreperson in the Roger Stone criminal case.”
Kaplan said the jury will be escorted to and from the courthouse throughout the trial by U.S. marshals.
Lawyers for the Daily News and The Associated Press opposed the decision, arguing for the public’s presumptive right to access civil proceedings. Trump and Carroll’s lawyers consented to it.
In two lawsuits, Carroll has accused Trump of raping her inside a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s and slandering her in public statements during and after his presidency. Trump denies the encounter.
The one going to trial on Apr. 25 concerns Carroll’s second suit against Trump filed in November, which includes rape and defamation claims. It was the first case filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which afforded sex abuse victims their day in court by lifting the statute of limitations for one year to bring claims.
Complicated appeals have bogged down Carroll’s first lawsuit for years. In it, she accuses Trump of defaming her in 2019 when she went public with her allegations. Then-President Trump notoriously called Carroll a liar and, denying he was a rapist, said she was “not my type.”
The D.C. Court of Appeals has yet to decide whether Trump made the comments in his capacity as president and was thus legally shielded from lawsuits — an argument President Biden’s Justice Department has continued to defend. If the court rules in Carroll’s favor, Trump could end up going on trial twice.
Kaplan recently said Carroll’s lawyers could call two women who have accused Trump of sexual assault as witnesses. The judge will also allow them to play the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape for the jury, in which Trump bragged about groping women’s genitals.
Trump and Carroll’s lawyers declined to comment.
