Donald Trump is sued, again, by E. Jean Carroll: Just weeks after he lost a civil trial after a jury found he both sexually abused and defamed the journalist in the 1990s, the former president has been sued again, for comments he made in the recent CNN town hall.
Trump Has More Legal Issues – $10 Million Lawsuit
Earlier this month, former President Donald Trump was found by a New York jury to have both sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll, who had accused him of raping her in a Manhattan department store in 1996.
Trump was ordered to pay a total of $5 million, although he has appealed the ruling.
Carroll had claimed that Trump defamed her when he accused her of lying and that she wasn’t his “type.”
Now, Carroll has amended her claim, effectively suing Donald Trump again, after he repeated his denials in his recent CNN town hall.
Per the New York Times, Carroll has made a filing that amends a separate lawsuit from the one from the recent trial, in which she references the Trump comments, days after the verdict, that Carroll’s accusation was “fake” and a “made-up story.” He also dismissed Carroll as a “whack job.”
After the verdict, Trump also took to Truth Social and stated that “I have no idea who this woman, who made a false and totally fabricated accusation, is.”
“This conduct supports a very substantial punitive damages award in Carroll’s favor both to punish Trump, to deter him from engaging in further defamation, and to deter others from doing the same,” Carroll’s filing says of the CNN comments. “It makes a mockery of the jury verdict and our justice system if he can just keep on repeating the same defamatory statements over and over again.”
“Trump also insulted Carroll’s character and downplayed his sexual abuse of her by asking ‘what kind of woman meets someone’ and then ‘within minutes’ plays ‘hanky-panky in a dressing room,” the amended claim also says.
A CNBC report places the amount of the new claim at $10 million. It also notes that 3.3 million people watched the town hall on CNN, and therefore were exposed to what they consider the defamatory claim.
After Trump’s CNN town hall, there had been speculation that Carroll could take further legal action in response to the former president’s televised comments.
Trump, who is running for president again in 2024, will have to answer questions on the campaign trail about the Carroll verdict, and at the same time will not only face an additional lawsuit but also face the possibility of damages if he answers those questions by asserting that Carroll lied. Most politicians would say something about not wanting to comment on pending litigation, but that sort of answer is very much not Trump’s style.
Donald Trump Strikes Back on Social Media
Indeed, the former president again posted about the Carroll case on Truth Social Tuesday.
“I don’t know E. Jean Carroll, I never met her or touched her (except on a celebrity line with her African American husband who she disgustingly called the “Ape,”), I wouldn’t want to know or touch her, I never abused her or raped her or took her to a dressing room 25 years ago in a crowded department store where the doors are LOCKED, she has no idea when, or did anything else to her, except deny her Fake, Made Up Story, that she wrote in a book. IT NEVER HAPPENED, IS A TOTAL SCAM, UNFAIR TRIAL!,” Trump said on his social network, risking further legal damages.
He added what he called “page 2,” stating that “The Carroll case is part of the Democrats playbook to tarnish my name and person, much like the now fully debunked Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, the 51 Intelligence Agents, FBI/Twitter Files, and so much more. It is being funded and tried by Democrat operatives, although this was denied by them, and when they got caught in the lie, the Clinton appointed judge would not let us use it in trial. Time will prove him to be highly partisan & very unfair. Where’s the dress she said she had?”
Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
