The New York Times reports that #metoo meets Donald Trump in court

The trial of A. E. Kaplan, the former president of the U.S. House of Representatives, in Ms. Carroll’s case

The measure passed, and shortly after midnight on Nov. 24, when it took effect, Ms. Carroll sued Mr. Trump. On Tuesday, that case is scheduled for trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan, where, after years of accusations and angry denials traded in articles, interviews and social media, a jury will be charged with determining the truth.

Mr. Trump is also facing a criminal investigation by the Fulton County, Ga., district attorney over attempted interference in the 2020 election; by a federal special counsel over his decision to keep sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence, and for his role in the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. He denied wrongdoing in all of them.

A cyclone of news coverage followed his arraignment. His history of attacking judges, law enforcement officials and even individual jurors in other matters, has led the judge in Ms. Carroll’s case, Lewis A. Kaplan, to take steps to protect jurors who might fear retribution by the former president’s supporters: He ordered that they be kept anonymous, even from the lawyers and parties.

After he left office, Mr. Trump continued to attack her on social media and in public statements, but he denied that he raped her. He denied the accusation that he raped her and said that she was not his type.

Now a jury must resolve what the judge in the case, Lewis A. Kaplan of the Federal District Court in Manhattan, described in an earlier ruling as “a ‘he said, she said’ case.” Two of her friends will likely corroborate her story that she turned after the assault. TheAccessHollywood tape, which the judge allowed as evidence along with the testimony of two women who accused Mr. Trump of nonconsensual sex acts, may bolster her depiction of him.

Trump’s team is expected to argue that the nearly 30-year old claims can’t be proved because of the potential for book sales and publicity.

Under the New York’s Adult Survivors Act, people who claim to have been sexually abused can bring civil claims older than the statute of limitations. The second suit has the same defamation claim as the first one. The claim was filed when Trump was not the president, and has proceeded quickly.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers will deploy strategies that are at this point familiar — because they are often effective despite capitalizing on myths about abuse. Mr. Trump is likely to try to attack Ms. Carroll’s account at the trial. The defense may insist that she welcomed the bantering exchange that led the two to the dressing room, and Ms. Carroll’s recollection in her complaint that she “kept laughing” after the incident may be used to support this consensual version of events.

Trump’s team says it may call Dr. Edgar Nace, a psychiatrist, and Trump himself. If the former president does not testify, it is unclear if he will attend the trial.

Carroll is asking for unspecified damages, and demanding that Trump retract an allegedly defamatory statement about her. Damages could run to tens of millions of dollars.

Mr. Trump has made many women feel like they have male sexual entitlement. I researched my book on why accusers are doubted and I heard this many times. One woman I spoke with, Marissa Ross, who has written about sexual assault and harassment in the wine industry, explained her quite typical reaction to the notorious “Access Hollywood” videotape that surfaced during the 2016 presidential campaign, in which Mr. Trump brags: “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” including “grab” women’s genitals. When she heard the tape, Ms. Ross told me, “I didn’t just hear Donald Trump. I heard every man that’s ever hurt me. My ex-boyfriend was the one who was in high school with those boys. It was more than just listening to Trump, I imagine for many other survivors. It was everyone that violated me.”

The bolstering can be helpful as testimony from a rape accuser alone doesn’t convince a jury. Like most accusers, Ms. Carroll will need to overcome formidable barriers to belief. In a civil case, the evidentiary standard of proof is much lower than in a criminal prosecution.