This Wednesday at his trial against Trump. Jean Carroll testified

NEW YORK (CNN) — Former columnist E. in assault and defamation case against former President Donald Trump. Gene Carroll took the stand Wednesday morning.

“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen,” Carroll testified. “He lied and ruined my reputation and I’m here to try to get my life back.”

Bergdorf sued Trump for assault and defamation in the spring of 1996, alleging that he sexually assaulted her in a Goodman dressing room. Trump has repeatedly denied their allegations.

The trial judge warned Trump about his social media comments

The judge overseeing the civil trial against Donald Trump warned the former president’s lawyer on Wednesday.

Carol’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, stood outside the jury’s presence and pointed to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan a post Trump made on his truth social media site about the case on Wednesday.

He news Calling the case a hoax, she cited DNA from Carolyn’s dress, which Trump allegedly wore in the mid-1990s when she was caught raping her at an upscale Manhattan department store. Trump denies the allegations.

Judge Kaplan warned Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacobina, that the report and additional reports about the case could open Trump to “a new source of liability.” Tacobina said he would ask his client to refrain from commenting further on the case.

The judge had earlier asked lawyers to refrain from making statements that could incite violence or civil unrest, and to refrain from making comments that could endanger the safety of individuals or the rule of law.

Testimony of former store manager

Before Carroll took the stand, former Bergdorf Goodman women’s store manager Cheryl Beal testified for less than an hour as Carroll’s first witness in the civil trial.

Biel worked at luxury department stores for a decade until 1998, and had an office on the sixth floor next to the lingerie department where Carroll alleged Trump had sexually assaulted her.

Beale showed the jury a plan of the sixth floor of the period in question and described the layout and dressing rooms on that floor as one room with floor-to-ceiling wooden walls. He said the fitting room door locked automatically when closed.

Beal said the store has a practice of closing locker room doors when not in use, but “usually” they stay open.

Bergdorf Goodman plans to keep at least one person on guard in each department, but it’s not unusual for the sixth-floor area to be understaffed, especially on slow afternoons, Beal said.