Writer E Jean Carroll accuses the former US president of defaming her in 2019 by denying he attacked her in a department store dressing room.

Former US President Donald Trump has arrived in a New York courtroom to defend himself for the second time against allegations that he defamed writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of rape.

Trump, who said he planned to testify in the civil trial, sat two tables behind Carroll, who accuses him of defaming her in 2019 by denying that he attacked her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan.

Carroll, 80, is seeking at least $10 million in damages.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is overseeing the case, told prospective jurors Tuesday that they only need to consider how much Trump should pay Carroll in damages, not whether the alleged attack occurred or whether Trump lied about it.

He added that the process is expected to take three to five days.

Trump portrayed himself as a victim of political persecution and said Kaplan should dismiss the case.

“Judge Kaplan should immediately put this whole corrupt election interference attack on me led by Crooked Joe Biden to rest,” he said on social media.

“He should do it for America.”

Trump has so far pleaded not guilty to four criminal cases that could potentially land him in prison ahead of November’s presidential election, including two in which he is accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

He is also a defendant in at least two other civil cases. But Trump has already lost a defamation case against Carroll.

In May last year A jury found Trump guilty to pay the former Elle columnist $5 million for sexually assaulting and defaming her during the encounter.

Trump has said that he did not know Carroll and that she made up the encounter to sell her memoirs. He’s also Appeal against the $5 million award.

Kaplan, who also led that case, said he blocked Trump from arguing that he did not defame or sexually assault Carroll or that she fabricated her portrayal.

In recent weeks, Trump has escalated his attacks on Carroll, saying, among other things, that she did not know the decade in which they met.

He also called Kaplan “terrible, prejudiced, irrationally angry.”

Because of Kaplan’s pretrial rulings, Trump could face an uphill battle to avoid significant additional damages.

That includes banning Trump from claiming that he did not rape Carroll, as New York criminal law defines the term, because the first jury did not find that Trump committed rape.

Kaplan ruled that Carroll’s rape allegation was “substantially true” because Trump used his fingers in the attack.

Trump also can’t talk about DNA evidence or Carroll’s sexual activity or suggest that Democrats are funding her case. Carroll is a Democrat.

And like the first trial, jurors will be able to see the 2005 Access Hollywood video in which Trump graphically described the ability of famous people like him to have sexual relationships with beautiful women.

Trump did not retract his comments when asked about them in a 2022 deposition. Kaplan said the video could provide “useful insight into Mr. Trump’s state of mind” to Carroll.

Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba assured Kaplan on Sunday that he was “well aware” of the court’s rulings “and the strict limitations placed on his testimony.”