Trump’s Second E. Jean Carroll Defamation Trial Begins Today. Here Are the Key Players.

E. Jean Carroll is not done with Trump yet. She’s taking him back to court, and this time, her legal team is asking for $10 million in damages over allegedly defamatory statements the former president made about her back in 2019, when Trump was still in the White House. Carroll had just came out publicly accusing the former president of rape, and he vehemently denied it, claiming Carroll was “totally lying,” that she was “not my type,” and that “I don’t know anything about her.”

Carroll sued Trump for defamation, but the case (referred to as “Carroll I”) was paused while the Justice Department intervened to decide whether the former president was acting within the scope of his presidential duties when he made those comments about Carroll’s allegations. In the meantime, New York passed the Adult Survivors Act, opening up a lookback window for survivors of sexual assault to be able to sue their abusers.

In response, Carroll filed a second lawsuit against Trump (known as “Carroll II”) accusing him of rape (and defamation, for separate but similar comments denying her accusations). Despite its name, Carroll II went to trial first, in May 2023, and a jury determined that Trump was liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The DOJ also concluded that Trump was not acting within the scope of his presidential duties when he made those 2019 comments about Carroll. Now, with Carroll I heading to court, a judge has assessed that given the previous victories, Carroll does not need to prove Trump defamed her again, so this case is only about how much he owes in damages.

To help make sense of this case—one of so many against Trump—Slate has put together a list of the major characters you need to know.

Role: Writer, plaintiff in the case

Known for: Carroll is famous for offering advice to women, whether it’s about their careers or their sex lives. While in college, she was crowned Miss Indiana University, and soon after graduating she published her first story in Esquire. After that, Carroll started writing for Rolling Stone, Playboy, and Outside magazine, and even did a short stint with Saturday Night Live that earned her an Emmy Award in 1987. A few years later, she landed her very own column at Elle magazine and a cable TV talk show—both named Ask E. Jean. Carroll would continue writing that column for 26 years, with Elle’s editor-in-chief Nina Garcia describing her as “a force of nature, whose natural vibrancy has held readers in rapture for decades.” But the award-winning writer really catapulted onto the national stage after she published her memoir, What Do We Need Men For?, where she detailed, for the first time, allegations of how Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room the mid-1990s. She told the New York Times that she felt she owed it to her “beloved readers” to be transparent. “I can’t keep up this facade,” she said.

Status: After her first trial win against Trump last year, Carroll told CNN that “there’s a sort of feeling of victory that, at last, somebody has held him accountable in a courtroom.” Because Carroll’s attorneys won a request to ban Trump from arguing in this second trial that he did not rape her, Carroll I will only be about damages.

Role: Federal judge for the Southern District of New York, overseeing the defamation trial

Known for: Kaplan was appointed to the bench by former president Bill Clinton in 1994, and has served on the Manhattan federal court for well over a decade. He’s a graduate of Harvard Law School and has a reputation for being no-nonsense; in a 1997 immigration case he called out the federal government for not acting expeditiously to solve an asylum case by writing, “This is about as expedited as a glacier going uphill.” He’s worked on a number of high-profile cases, including crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial, actor Kevin Spacey’s sexual assault trial, and Britain’s Prince Andrew’s sex abuse case.

Current status: So far, Kaplan has been unforgiving to Trump, denying Trump’s request for a new trial last year after a jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation, and agreeing with Carroll’s ask that this case won’t relitigate that culpability.

Role: Attorney for Trump

Known for: Tacopina has the reputation of being New York’s “most hated lawyer,” and has been described as “an Italian-American version of Johnnie Cochran, down to the flashy style.” He has a record of working with high-profile individuals, previously representing rappers Meek Mill, ASAP Rocky, and Foxy Brown, and baseball legend Alex Rodriguez. Trump hired Tacopina last year, and he was tasked with handling both of Carroll’s lawsuits. During the first Carroll trial in May, Tacopina frequently clashed with Judge Kaplan, even filing a mistrial motion. At one point, Kaplan read aloud the definition of “an argumentative question” from a dictionary to Tacopina. After the jury returned a verdict that Trump was liable for sexual abuse and defamation, Tacopina claimed that you “can’t get a fair trial” in New York. This week, a day before this year’s trial was set to open, Tacopina withdrew an appeal of last year’s verdict.

Current status: It is unclear if Tacopina will return to court to defend Trump in the Carroll I trial.

Role: Attorney for Trump

Known for: Madaio is a partner at the Habba Madaio & Associates law firm, and is second in command to Alina Habba, who has also represented Trump. Madaio was part of a group of lawyers that tried suing Hillary Clinton, former FBI officials, and the Democratic Party for allegedly conspiring to taint Trump’s presidency by suggesting that he colluded with Russia during his 2016 presidential campaign. That case was eventually dismissed and Madaio was one of four lawyers fined $50,000 for filing the frivolous lawsuit. He’s also played a role in Trump’s New York civil fraud case, writing an appeal that asked for that lawsuit to be paused.

Current status: Madaio will continue to serve on Trump’s defense team during the Carroll I trial.

Role: Attorney for Carroll

Known for: Kaplan, who has no relation to Judge Lewis Kaplan, is the white-collar attorney representing Carroll in both of her lawsuits against Trump. She’s considered an “experienced, well-regarded civil rights and commercial litigator known for her reasoned demeanor and practical approach,” wrote former federal prosecutor Robert Katzberg for Slate. She’s most famous for winning the landmark Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which affirmed same-sex marriage under the 14^th Amendment. She also previously represented the former president’s niece, Mary Trump, in a lawsuit that alleged Trump was defrauding his niece out of her inheritance. (The case was ultimately dismissed.) And for Carroll’s lawsuit, Kaplan deposed the former president twice in two weeks, telling Vanity Fair that Trump mistook a photograph of Carroll for his ex-wife Marla Maples.

Current status: Kaplan will be in court representing Carroll for the second time in less than one year.