A day after his victory in the Republican primary election in the American state of Iowa, former President Donald Trump appeared in court at the start of a second defamation trial filed against him by American writer E. Jean Carroll in New York.

The trial began on Tuesday in a Manhattan court with the selection of a nine-person jury.

Both Trump and Carroll made opening statements through their lawyers.

In May 2023, a New York jury concluded that Trump, the expected Republican candidate in this year's presidential election, assaulted Carroll and sexually assaulted her, then later defamed her in a department store in New York in 1996. The jury then awarded the writer a compensation totaling 5 million dollars.

Trump never appeared personally in the first trial, and his presence was not mandatory at the start of the second trial. Before the second trial began, a judge had already ruled that the additional comments made by Trump were defamatory.

This means the jury now only has to decide the amount of compensation Trump must pay. Carroll demands more than 10 million dollars.

Carroll's lawyer, Sean Crowley, said the high amount is justified because his client lives in fear of the "threats" she receives from Trump's supporters.