Trump's Attorney Knows Jurors May 'Hate' His Client

Joe Tacopina, lawyer of former President Donald Trump, gave a direct message to the jurors in the defamation lawsuit filed against his client by E. Jean Carroll.

While some in the jury may "hate Donald Trump," there is a time and place to express those feelings, Tacopina said Tuesday during his opening statements, and it is not "in the court of law."

Carroll, a former columnist for Elle magazine, alleges that Trump raped her in a department store in New York City in the mid-1990s, and is suing the former president, accusing him of defaming her character when he denied the allegations. Jury selection for the trial began Tuesday, followed by opening statements from both parties.

The trial falls just a few weeks after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to alleged hush money payments made ahead of the 2016 election. The former president is also facing several criminal investigations at state and federal levels.

Following the opening statements by Carroll's defense team, Tacopina, who is also a part of the legal team representing Trump in Bragg's investigation, addressed that the jurors may be bringing their own opinions about the former president from outside the courtroom.

"People have very strong feelings about Donald Trump, one way or the other," Tacopina said. ""It's OK to feel however you feel. You can hate Donald Trump. That's OK."

"But there's a secret time and a place for that. It's called the ballot box during an election, not here in the court of law."

Tacopina was quoted by both Law and Crime News reporter Adam Kalsfeld and Bloomberg reporter Erik Larson on Twitter.

According to a report from Law and Crime, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan asked the potential jurors during Tuesday's selection if they used Trump's social platform, Truth Social, or if they believed in the former president's baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Potential candidates were also asked if they considered the decades-long delay between when Carroll alleges Trump sexually assault her and when she stepped forward as a hinderance to her credibility.

Kaplan also gave clear expectations for both parties on how the trial is to play out in the following weeks, instructing the legal teams prior to jury selection to "refrain from making any statements that will incite violence or civil unrest." Trump was not present for Tuesday's hearing.

The former president has continued to deny any wrongdoing in relation to Carroll. A spokesperson for Trump previously told Newsweek that Carroll's suit is "just another part of the witch hunt targeted to interfere and tamper with a Presidential election."

"The radical, deranged Democrats will stop at nothing in order to prevent the American people from choosing President Donald Trump—the overwhelming frontrunner by far— as their 47th President," the spokesperson said. "The lunatics will fail and President Trump will Make America Great Again!"

Newsweek has contacted Carroll's lawyer, Shawn Crowley, via email for comment.