Carroll compares Trump to 'walrus snorting' and 'rhino flopping his hands'
Columnist E. Jean Carroll likened former President Trump to a “walrus snorting” Monday, as she described her experience being in the same room as Trump for the first time since the late 1990s, around the time she accused the former president of sexually abusing her in a department store.
Flanked by her two lawyers, Shawn Crowley and Roberta "Robbie" Kaplan, Carroll told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow he was “nothing” and that “we don’t need to be afraid of him.”
“Together, this team of brilliant young people have, as you said, stood up to the man, who, by the way, Rachel, is not even there. He's nothing," she said. "He is without — he is like a walrus snorting and like a rhino flopping his hands."
Carroll, who recently won an $83.3 million verdict from a jury in a defamation case against Trump, previously won $5 million in a separate case last year that found Trump liable for defamation and sexual assault. In that trial, however, Trump did not make an appearance in the courtroom.
Pressed on whether she was surprised that he had little power in the courtroom, Carroll described feeling “terrified” ahead of the trial.
“No, Rachel, I was terrified. I was just a bag of sweating corpuscles as we prepared for trial. And three days, four days before trial, I had an actual breakdown," she said. "I lost my ability to speak. I lost my words. I couldn't talk, and I couldn't go on. It was — that's how frightened I was."
"But, oddly, we went into court," Carroll continued. "Robbie took the lectern. I sat in the witness chair like this. And she said, ‘Ms. Carroll, good morning. Would you please spell your name for the court?' ... And, amazingly, I looked out, and he was nothing."
She added, “He was nothing. He was a phantom."
The former president, who attended the trial voluntarily, has vowed to appeal the jury's ruling, calling the verdict "absolutely ridiculous." Trump will not have to pay Carroll until after he exhausts his appeal options, according to reports.
Carroll also said Monday she would "absolutely" sue Trump again if her lawyers told her another case was possible.