Turnabout Is Fair Play? Donald Trump Is Countersuing E. Jean Carroll for Defamation
By Susie Moore | 2:00 PM on June 28, 2023
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Turnabout Is Fair Play? Donald Trump Is Countersuing E. Jean Carroll for Defamation
AP Photo/Steven Senne
If you thought the E. Jean Carroll chapter of former President Donald Trump’s legal saga was closed (or at least coming to a close), you’d be mistaken. It isn’t just that Trump has moved for a new trial in the litigation that resulted in a $5 million jury verdict against him for sexual abuse and defamation. While the post-trial activity on that case continues to be sorted out, Carroll’s other lawsuit against Trump remains pending, and now, he’s filed a counterclaim against her for defamation.
To unpack this a bit further, the suit that went to trial in May was actually the second suit filed by Carroll against Trump (in 2022). In that one, filed in federal court in New York, Carroll alleged that Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her by accusing her of inventing the story in statements made after his presidency. As we reported, the jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse/battery (but not rape) and for defamation.
Carroll first filed suit against Trump in 2019. In that case, she sued solely for defamation, after Trump, in response to her publishing an article and book in which she claimed that Trump sexually assaulted her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City in 1995 or 1996, denied the alleged assault and asserted Carroll wasn’t his “type.” The catch there is that the statements in question were made while Trump was President of the United States. Consequently, the Department of Justice attempted to intervene in the case, asserting that it should be substituted as a defendant since Trump was acting in his official capacity when the statements were made. The judge initially denied that motion, which was then appealed and, without getting too deep into the weeds of it all, has since been remanded back to the trial judge to make a factual determination as to whether Trump was acting in his official capacity when he made the statements. Meanwhile, the DOJ has since signaled it might be reconsidering its position (go figure). The DOJ has until July 13th to advise the court as to its intentions.
With me so far? After the verdict in the second case, Carroll sought — and was granted — leave to amend her pleadings in the first case to incorporate the findings from that verdict and to include Trump’s comments to Kaitlan Collins on the CNN town hall that aired the day after the verdict. Trump objected to the amendment, asserting that “he would suffer ‘extreme prejudice’ if Carroll were allowed to ‘retrofit’ her original lawsuit by substituting ‘sexual assault’ for ‘rape’ 71 times.” The judge allowed the amendment and denied Trump’s request to dismiss the suit based on the jury’s finding (in the second case) that he had not raped her.
Now, Trump has filed a counterclaim in that (first) case against Carroll for defamation, based on her accusing him of raping her in her CNN appearance following the trial of the second case.
Poster Comment:
Oh brother. She has really stepped in it big time.