Trump counters E. Jean Carroll, claiming she slandered him this time

Former President Donald J. Trump, who has been found liable for sexually assaulting and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, has filed a counterclaim accusing her of in turn defaming him by repeating her claim that he raped her.

Last month, a federal jury of six men and three women ruled that Ms. Carroll, 79, a former magazine columnist, had proven that Mr. Trump had sexually assaulted her nearly 30 years ago in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan. . However, the jury did not find that he raped her, as she had long claimed.

During a May 10 CNN interview, a day after the verdict in that civil suit, Ms. Carroll was asked about the jury’s finding that he had not committed rape, which requires proof of penile penetration.

“Oh yes, he did, oh yes, he did,” she said.

Mr. Trump, who is seeking the presidency again, said in court documents filed late Tuesday that Ms. Carroll was wrong to repeat that claim following the jury’s decision that he had sexually assaulted her, a lesser form of misconduct .

Mr Trump said the interview on television and other platforms tarnished his reputation.

Ms. Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement that in light of reality, Mr. Trump “claimed that he was acquitted by a jury that found he had sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll by forcing his fingers into her to stab your vagina.”

“Trump’s filing, then, is nothing more than his last-ditch effort to delay accountability for what a jury has already determined to be his defamation of E. Jean Carroll,” she said. “But whether he likes it or not, that accountability is coming very soon.”

The former president’s case is part of a years-long battle that will continue into next year.

Ms. Carroll, who was a fixture in Manhattan media circles, first aroused Mr. Trump’s enmity in June 2019 after going public with her accusation that he assaulted her in the mid-1990s. Mr Trump called her claim “completely false” and said she was not his “type”. Ms. Carroll sued Mr. Trump for libel over those comments in a case now set for trial in January after the appeal stalled after Mr. Trump claimed his remarks were part of his official role as president.

Last month’s verdict stemmed from a separate lawsuit filed in 2022 under a New York law that gives adults a year to sue long-ago sexual abusers. The jury found Mr. Trump liable for sexually assaulting Ms. Carroll, rather than raping her, and awarded her $2 million for that misconduct, plus $20,000 in punitive damages. It also earned her $2.7 million for defamation, thanks to his repeated attacks on her veracity after he left office, along with $280,000 in punitive damages.

In the parallel case due for trial next year, she is seeking millions more for defamation after Mr Trump’s own comments following the recent verdict when he again called her accusations a hoax.