The former columnist is seeking compensatory damages from Trump, claiming that the ex-president raped her in the 1990s and has continued to defame her through the present.
Former columnist E. Jean Carroll has filed a sexual assault lawsuit against Donald Trump.
According to ABC News, Carroll filed her lawsuit shortly after New York’s Adult Survivors Act took effect on Thanksgiving.
The act, adds ABC News, provides the adult survivors of sexual abuse a one-year window to file claims against alleged perpetrators and enablers.
Carroll has previously sued Trump for defamation.
In her previous claim, Carroll said that Trump defamed her when he publicly denied raping her in a New York City bathroom some time in the 1990s.
Speaking to his supporters, Trump dismissed Carroll’s accusation by saying that she is not his “type.”
Carroll’s current lawsuit again accuses Trump of defamation, while adding a separate claim of sexual battery.
“Trump’s underlying sexual assault severely injured Carroll, causing significant pain and suffering, lasting psychological harms, loss of dignity, and invasion of her privacy. His recent defamatory statement has only added to the harm that Carroll had already suffered,” the lawsuit states.
The complaint cites another recent remark from the former president, posted to Truth Social in October.
In his Truth Social post, Trump called Carroll’s claims “a Hoax and a lie.”
He also reiterated that Carroll is not his “type.”
“And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will,” Trump wrote. “This woman is not my type!”
CBS News notes that Trump also said that Carroll “completely made up a story that I met her at the doors of this crowded New York City Department Store [sic] and, within minutes, ‘swooned’ her.”
Trump’s social media statement also emphasized the former president’s perpetual victim complex, suggesting that Carroll’s claims—much like his highly publicized political shortcomings–are but a fabrication intended to spoil his public image.
“It is a Hoax and a lie, just like all the other Hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years,” Trump said.
Attorneys for Carroll have characterized Trump’s recent comments as malicious.
“Trump’s false, insulting, and defamatory October 12 statement about Carroll—and his actual malice in making that statement—is fully consistent with his tried-and-true playbook for responding to credible public reports that he sexually assaulted women,” the lawsuit says.
Roberta Kaplan, an attorney for Carroll, said that her client “intends to hold Donald Trump accountable not only for defaming her, but also for sexually assaulting her, which he did years ago in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman.”
“Thanksgiving Day,” Kaplan said, “was the very first day Ms. Carroll could file under New York law so our complaint was filed with the court shortly after midnight.”
Sources
E. Jean Carroll files new lawsuit against Donald Trump alleging defamation, battery
Trump sits for deposition in E. Jean Carroll defamation case
Join the conversation!