- The lawsuit brought by Trump's rape accuser E. Jean Carroll is expected to start in April.
- On Thursday, both sides filed a list of proposed questions to ask potential jurors.
Hours after former President Donald Trump was indicted in a case believed to involve his alleged silencing of a porn star, his lawyers in an unrelated rape case filed documents revealing their plan to sniff out jurors who are sympathetic to women making sexual assault claims.
Former "Elle" advice columnist E. Jean Carroll is taking Trump to court in New York next month in a defamation and battery civil suit. She has accused Trump of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman changing room in the mid-1990s and says Trump defamed her by denying her allegation and calling her a liar.
In court documents filed Thursday, Trump's team proposed asking potential jurors whether they're familiar with the slogan #believewomen, and whether they agree with it. They also wanted to know whether the #MeToo movement has "impacted" jurors' lives.
"Do you believe that most Americans brush aside allegations of sexual misconduct made against powerful men?" was another question proposed by team Trump for jury selection. Another was whether jurors are familiar with the "allegations made against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh before he was confirmed to the Court" and their opinions about it.
Jury selection questions are meant to ascertain whether a juror has strongly held beliefs that would prevent them from judging a case fairly.
Carroll's lawyers also want to question jurors about potential biases when it comes to sexual assault allegations, specifically whether the decades since the alleged assault makes Carroll "less credible" and if jurors believe "that a victim of rape must present physical or medical evidence to prove that the rape in fact occurred."
Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Insider that while Trump's lawyers' questions around sexual assault are indeed meant to ascertain how jurors feel about sexual assault allegations and the #MeToo Movement, personal views are not enough to get most potential jurors dismissed.
That's because most dismissals must be for "cause," he said, meaning the juror admittedly can't set aside personal beliefs to judge a case on the evidence alone.
Each side can dismiss some jurors without stating a specific reason, but these kinds of dismissals — called peremptory challenges — are limited. Rahmani said in civil cases, each side usually only gets three.
"If someone says I believe women and I believe these accusations, men have been taking advantage of women for years ... that's not going to be enough for a cause challenge," Rahmani said. "If they say I can follow the law and be fair, that's all you need."
Robbie Kaplan, an attorney for Carroll, declined to comment on this story. Joe Tacopina, an attorney Trump, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment Friday.