Trump sues E. Jean Carroll for defamation
Fox News
Former President Trump filed a lawsuit against E. Jean Carroll this week, suing for defamation after he says she “falsely” accused him of rape.
The lawsuit comes after a federal jury in New York City decided last month that Trump was not liable for rape but was liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The former president has been ordered to pay $5 million. Trump vowed to appeal the ruling.
The former president and 2024 GOP frontrunner’s legal team said E. Jean Carroll “wantonly and falsely” accused Trump on “multiple occasions of committing rape,” saying those claims “constitute defamation.”
Trump’s lawyers Alina Habba and Michael Madaio filed the lawsuit this week said the rape “clearly was not committed,” pointing to the jury verdict last month.
Habba and Madaio said that Carroll’s “repeated falsehoods and defamatory statements” have brought “significant harm” to Trump’s reputation, which has “yielded an inordinate amount of damages sustained as a result.”
Habba and Madaio is demanding Carroll “retract her defamatory statements” against the former president; deny all relief and purported damages sought by Carroll; and award Trump “compensatory and punitive damages.”
Habba and Madaio also demanded Trump be awarded “counsel fees, costs, and any further relief as this Court may be deem just and proper.”
NEW YORK JURY FINDS DONALD TRUMP SEXUALLY ABUSED E JEAN CARROLL IN CIVIL SUIT
Carroll, 79, alleged that Trump raped her at the Bergdorf Goodman department store across the street from Trump Tower in Manhattan sometime in 1996. According to Carroll, the two had a chance run-in at the store, where Trump was shopping for a gift for “a girl.” She said he asked for her advice, and the two shopped together before he pushed her into a dressing room and assaulted her. Trump and his legal team insist that Carroll’s allegations are fabricated, with the former president’s initial reaction including an accusation that Carroll was motivated by wanting to sell copies of her book.
In an exclusive interview last month just after the jury delivered the verdict, Trump told Fox News Digital that he has “absolutely no idea who this woman is.”
“This verdict is a disgrace,” he told Fox News Digital. “It is a continuation of the greatest political witch hunt in history.”
Meanwhile, Carroll has a second defamation suit against Trump that will go to trial early next year.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-sues-e-jean-carroll-for-defamation