'Playing them all like a fiddle': Trump mocked for claiming his E Jean Carroll defamation trial is rigged

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City this week to determine whether he must pay further damages to former Elle magazine columnist E Jean Carroll for defaming her in 2019 when he refuted her claims of sexual abuse.

In a separate trial last year, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, as well as defaming her in a 2022 social media post in which he called her allegations "a hoax and a lie" and said, "This woman is not my type!"

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and claimed to be unaware of Carroll's identity, per a report by ABC News.

During Tuesday’s court proceedings, the former President of the United States refrained from making any statements and avoided eye contact with his accuser, Carroll, while the jury selection process was underway, as reported by journalists who were permitted to be present inside the courtroom.

However, despite the ongoing legal proceedings, Trump continued to criticize and disparage Carroll on his beleaguered social media platform, Truth Social.

In one instance, he reposted a clip from an interview she gave to CNN and questioned the veracity of her claims, writing, "Can you believe I have to defend myself against this woman's fake story?!"

Following the court hearing, the 77-year-old Republican frontrunner departed for the state of New Hampshire, where the second presidential nomination contest is scheduled to take place next Tuesday, January 23.

Despite the gravity of the allegations against him, which would have been sufficient to derail the career of any other politician, the case appears to have had no discernible impact on Trump's ambition to return to the White House.

On the contrary, it is believed that his standing with his party's right-wing base may have been strengthened as a result of his courtroom attendance.

What did Donald Trump reveal in his Truth Social post?

The former President blasted the defamation trial on Truth Social by calling Judge Lewis Kaplan’s decisions “unfair” and “partisan.”

He wrote, “The Judge in the Trial that I am attending today is a totally biased and hostile person—The same Judge that we had in the first trial, which my lawyer asked me not to attend because of the fact he thought the case was so ridiculous and demeaning (and easy to win!) to a former President.”

The former President continued, “In retrospect, I should have been there to watch how unfair and partisan this “Judge” was. The whole New York System is RIGGED against me because of the fact that I’m not only a Former Republican President, but also am the leading Republican Candidate, and beating Crooked Joe Biden, BY A LOT.”

“This case is another example of Election Interference at a level never seen before. Even E. Jean Carroll’s Lawyer is a Democrat Political Operative, and this whole Hoax was funded and conceived of by Reid Hoffman, George Conway, and many others in the Democrat System of Thugs (Perhaps at conflict with Carroll’s testimony this morning),” he stated.

In the civil lawsuit, Carroll, 80, is requesting more than $10 million in damages, per a report from France 24.

She claims that during Trump's presidency in 2019, she was defamed with the former president claiming that she "is not my type."

This is separate from a legal lawsuit last year in which a New York jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996 and then defaming her in 2022, calling her a "complete con job."

Carroll had received $5 million in damages in that lawsuit.

This is just one of several trials looming over Trump's head, with the former President charged in four separate criminal cases and facing 91 charges, including attempting to sabotage the 2020 presidential race, which he lost to Joe Biden, stealing confidential state information, and engaging in corporate fraud.

Trump has embraced his legal obstacles as proof of an elaborate conspiracy in which an elusive "deep state" is seeking to prevent him from returning to power.

Trump has used previous trial appearances to steal the spotlight and deliver vitriolic comments, both outside courthouses and on the witness stand when permitted by the judge.

The 77-year-old GOP frontrunner has also utilized social media posts to make obscene remarks about court personnel.

He also posted on Tuesday when leaving the Manhattan courtroom, “Going to New Hampshire now, big crowd—Looking forward to being there! After New Hampshire, I will be heading down to Palm Beach, Florida, to attend my great Mother-in-Law’s funeral. It will be a beautiful tribute to her!”

Lewis Kaplan, the judge in Tuesday's trial, imposed strict orders to limit Trump.

Carroll claims that in 1996, Trump slammed her against a wall in a Manhattan department store dressing room, and the prior civil jury concurred.

Kaplan concluded unequivocally that Trump had "sexually abused -- indeed, raped -- Ms. Carroll" and that the Republican could no longer argue differently in court.

Last Monday, Carroll's lawyers begged Kaplan to prohibit Trump from making "inadmissible, prejudicial" remarks in court.

Internet blasts Donald Trump for calling E Jean Carroll defamation trial 'rigged'

People on X mocked the former US president for coming up with inventive and imaginative ways to go after his opponents via his social networking platform.

One X user remarked, "Every time Donald Trump gets in trouble, he keeps saying it’s because he’s a Republican because he’s trying to rally Republicans to his cause. These folks are so tribal that they can’t see the forest for the trees. The man is corrupt AF and is playing them all like a fiddle."

Another user stated, "Convicted rapist whines because he has to pay more for still abusing his victim."

"Is there a single judge or a prosecutor or a jury anywhere in America who’s not out to get Trump because they just don’t like him?" another user quipped.

"Does Trump actually think he's convincing anybody?" one user asked.

Another X user remarked, "So much rigged against the poor little guy. He even said he is the "innocentest" man ever. No one is "honester"."

One user tweeted, "That Donald Trump is still a free man is rigged. Anyone else would already be in jail for contempt."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.