Jean Carroll’s complaint, filed in federal court in New York City, accuses Trump of abuse, “when he violently raped her and touched her” and defamation, citing an October post on the Truth Social platform where denied the alleged rape. Carroll sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for pain and suffering, psychological harm, loss of dignity and damage to her reputation. A longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, Carroll first made the sexual assault claim in a 2019 book, saying Trump raped her in the dressing room of an upscale Manhattan department store in 1995 or 1996. She filed the battery claim under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, a new law that gives sexual assault victims a year to sue their alleged abusers, even if the abuse happened a long time ago and the statute of limitations has expired . Former US President Donald Trump has called EJean Carroll’s rape allegations a “hoax”. sues for defamation [File: Jose Luis Villegas/ AP Photo] Thursday, November 24 – Thanksgiving Day and a national holiday in the United States – was the first day prosecutors could file suit. Her lawyer filed the legal documents online in the early hours of the day. Trump denied raping Carroll or knowing her at the time and said she was “not my type.” His first refusal in June 2019 prompted her to sue for defamation five months later, but that lawsuit has been tied up in the appeals courts as judges decide whether Trump is protected from legal claims for comments made while he was president. He repeated the denial in an Oct. 12 post on his Truth Social account, calling Carroll’s claim a “Hoax” and a “lie,” prompting the new defamation claim. Trump said in his statement that Carroll “made up a story that I met her at the doors of this busy New York department store and, within minutes, I ‘dismissed’ her.” It’s a Hoax and a lie, like all the other Hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years.” Both sides await appeals court rulings examining Trump’s argument that he had immunity as president. Carroll’s new suit covers that issue because Trump was no longer the sitting president in October. If the courts ultimately rule that Trump’s initial disparaging comments about Carroll’s rape claim were part of his job duties as president, she would be barred from suing over those comments, as federal employees are protected from defamation claims. No such protection would cover things he did before he became president. Judge Lewis A Kaplan, who is presiding over the defamation suit Carroll filed three years ago, may decide to include the new claims in a trial likely in the spring. The first suit was scheduled for trial on February 6, 2023, before Kaplan in Manhattan, but will likely be delayed due to the appeals process. At a hearing Tuesday, Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan requested an April 10 trial covering both lawsuits, saying they overlap substantially. Trump’s attorney, Alina Haba, has requested a May 8 trial on the first lawsuit only. He also told the judge that the longer delay made sense because Trump had not hired a lawyer for the second lawsuit. “Your client in this lawsuit, Mrs. Habba, has known this was coming for months and would do well to decide who represents him in it,” the judge replied. Judge Kaplan said he may decide early next week how to schedule both lawsuits. Carroll had previously been barred by state law from suing over the alleged rape because too many years had passed since the incident. New York’s new law, however, gives sex crime victims who missed statutes of limitations a second chance to file a lawsuit. A window for such suits will be open for one year, after which normal time limits will be restored. At least hundreds of lawsuits are expected, including many from women who say they were assaulted by co-workers, prison guards, doctors or others.
