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A journalist took the stand today to report how Donald Trump sexually assaulted her at his Florida estate while his pregnant wife was dressing for a photo shoot in another room.
Natasha Stoynoff cried as she told the court how Trump pushed her against a wall and kissed her at Mar-a-Lago in 2005 when she was writing a story to celebrate his first wedding anniversary with Melania.
Stoynoff said that after a butler walked in, they went back to the photoshoot where Trump promised to take her for a steak dinner and give her the “best sex you’ll ever have.”
The testimony came during the battery and defamation lawsuit that advice columnist E. Jean Carroll brought against Trump.
The court heard that Trump will not mount a defense at all after his only witness had a medical problem. He has not yet appeared in person in court in Manhattan.
Natasha Stoynoff testified Wednesday how Trump sexually assaulted her in 2005 at his Florida estate while Melania was in another room
Stoynoff cried when she told the Manhattan jury she was at Mar-a-Lago writing a story celebrating the first anniversary of Trump and Melania’s wedding
The testimony came during the battery and defamation lawsuit that advice columnist E. Jean Carroll brought against Trump
Carroll, 79, alleges Trump, 76, raped her in the dressing room of the lingerie section of New York’s Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s.
Stoynoff, a New York Times best-selling author, told the court she was on assignment for People magazine at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the attack and regularly reported on the Trumps.
The judge has allowed other plaintiffs to testify to demonstrate what Carroll’s attorneys believe is a pattern of behavior.
Stoynoff, a New York Times best-selling author, told the court she was on assignment for People magazine at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the attack and reported regularly on the Trumps.
She cried as she told the Manhattan jury that the story was to celebrate the first anniversary of Trump and Melania’s wedding.
During a break between photo shoots when Melania changed, Trump said he wanted to show her a “really awesome room” and led her to another part of the building.
At the time, Melania was pregnant with their son Barron, who is now 17.
Stoynoff, who got emotional for the second time, told the jury, “I think wow, really nice room and I hear the door close behind me.
“By the time I turned around he had his hands on my shoulder and was pushing me against the wall and kissing me. I tried to push him away.
“He came back to me and I tried to push him again. He was kissing me. He was against me, just held my shoulder back.
‘I didn’t say any words. I was shocked. No words came out of my mouth. I remember a little mumbling.’
A butler came in and said Melania had finished changing and ready to resume the photoshoot and Trump left.
Stoynoff said she gave the butler a “get me out of here” look and felt he understood what she meant.
But back at the pool, Trump told her, “Oh, you know we’re going to have an affair. Don’t forget what Marla said,” referring to his second wife, Marla Maples.
“Best sex I’ve ever had,” Trump added, referring to an infamous cover page about Maples.
Trump said he wanted to take Stoynoff to Peter Luger steak restaurant. She was “shocked and realized what had just happened,” she told the court.
When Melania sat down, Trump got very “loving” around her and Stoynoff continued the interview as best he could.
She didn’t tell her senior bosses because she felt “embarrassed and humiliated” and didn’t want to cause trouble for the magazine, but she asked that she never write about Trump again and her editors obliged.
While Stoynoff later saw Trump at a gala, she avoided him.
The jury was shown the infamous Access Hollywood tape released just before the 2016 election of Trump boasting about groping women on a hot microphone
The alleged assault took place at Trump’s Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago resort
While Stoynoff was in the stands, Trump was in Ireland on his golf course
Stoynoff ran into Melania some time later at Trump Tower in New York and she asked why they never saw her again, but she made an excuse and didn’t tell her the truth, she told the court.
The jury was shown the infamous Access Hollywood tape released just before the 2016 election of Trump boasting about groping women on a hot microphone.
The panel of six men and four women did not respond during the two-minute clip, which was accompanied by a graphic language warning.
Stoynoff said when she saw the footage in 2016 she was “shocked.”
Tearing again, she said she felt “relief.”
She said, ‘For the first time I thought to myself oh he’s doing this to a lot of women, it’s not just me.
“The horrific thing was that I was worried about that because I didn’t say anything when other women were hurt by him. I regretted that.’
The jury was also shown part of a 45-minute statement Trump made for the case last October.
He appeared wearing a light blue tie and dark suit and sat boredly at a desk, clutching his wrists with his hands.
Trump denied having a hectic social life in the 1980s and 1990s, claiming he worked so hard he didn’t go out much.
Asked by Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan if he did TV interviews, he said with a smile, “I’ve done everything.”
Trump said he was married to his first wife Ivana from 1978 to the early 1990s.
But when asked about the dates he was married to his second wife, Marla Maples, he stumbled and paused and said, “I should check the exact dates.” I can do that very easily.’
Kaplan asked about Trump’s affairs while married to Ivana, but Trump said, “I don’t know.”
Kaplan asked, “You were public about seeing Miss Maples?”
Trump responded, “I don’t think I was completely public about it.”
Trump added, “It was towards the end of the marriage (the affair), so I don’t know, it could have been one round,” apparently meaning overlap.
Trump claimed he “very rarely” shopped at Bergdorf Goodman, where Carroll claims he assaulted her.
Trump got a copy of Carroll’s 2019 memoir where she first accused him, flipped through it with disdain, and looked bored.
He was read a number of statements he made in 2019 denying Carroll’s story and asked if he stood by them today.
Trump said it was because the story was “the most ridiculous, disgusting story just made up.”
Psychologist Leslie Lebowitz arrives at federal court in New York before testifying
E. Jean Carroll is showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, said Dr. Leslie Lebowitz
The court has already heard from another accuser, 81-year-old Jessica Leeds, who alleged that Trump groped and kissed her on a flight from Texas to New York in 1979.
She told the jury it felt like he had “countless hands” when he put his hand up her skirt until she fended it off.
The case will last until next week.
Earlier in the day, clinical psychologist Dr. Leslie Lebowitz that she couldn’t diagnose Carroll with depression or anxiety, nor related to Trump’s alleged rape in the mid-1990s.
But Carroll “squirmed in her chair” because she physically revisited the incident during a court hearing, said Dr. Lebowitz, one of the symptoms she says had a profound effect on her life.
Dr. Lebowitz told the court that Carroll exhibited some of the symptoms of PTSD, which is common among victims of rape and sexual assault.
She told the jury that Carroll’s symptoms “fit into the PTSD category, but she doesn’t have enough to meet the criteria.”
Carroll also didn’t have anxiety or depression, but she did show some problems, Dr. Lebowitz said.
Bergdorf Goodman (above) is just a block from Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue
Donald Trump in 1987 with his first wife, Ivana, rape prosecutor E. Jean Carroll and Carroll’s then-husband
The psychologist said Carroll developed avoidance strategies to avoid feeling “vulnerable” during the rape.
As a result, she had cut herself off from the romance and inflicted a “major loss” on herself: she had not been in a relationship or had sex since the attack, a span of 26 years.
Dr. Lebowitz likened this to a metal grille on a store coming down, saying that Carroll “closed” herself around a potential suitor, stared at the floor, and became monosyllabic.
Carroll’s other symptoms included nightmares and “intruders” in her mind that “washed like a video,” the court heard.
They were so strict that at one point during their sessions, Carroll “started squirming in her set because she was reliving Mr. Trump’s fingers in her,” said Dr. Lebowitz.
After Trump ran for president in 2016, Carroll was “flooded” with such visions, the jury heard.
Carroll even watched The Apprentice, the TV show featuring Trump, because everyone in her circle saw it and if she didn’t, she would force herself to face the rape.
Journalist cries as she testifies how Trump sexually assaulted her while Melania was nearby