Trump Fights Back: Countersues E. Jean Carroll for Defamation

You’d be wrong if you thought that the E. Jean Carroll Chapter of Donald Trump’s Legal Saga was over (or even coming to an end). Trump’s move for a new court trial is not just about the $5 million jury verdict he received for defamation and sexual abuse. Carroll’s lawsuit against Trump is still pending while the post-trial proceedings are being sorted out. He has also filed a defamation counterclaim against Carroll.

In order to explain this further, the lawsuit that was tried in May was the second lawsuit Carroll filed against Trump (in 2022). Carroll claimed in that suit, filed in New York federal court, that Trump had raped Carroll in a Manhattan department shop in the mid-1990s, and then defamed Carroll by accusing that she invented the story when he made statements after his presidency. We reported that the jury found Trump responsible for sexual abuse/battery and defamation.

Carroll filed her first lawsuit against Trump in 2019. She sued Trump solely for defamation after Trump denied the alleged sexual assault of Carroll in the Bergdorf Goodman store in New York City, in 1995 or 1996. He also said that Carroll was not his “type”. The only catch is that these statements were made when Trump was president. The Department of Justice then attempted to intervene, claiming that Trump had been acting in an official capacity at the time of the statements. The judge initially denied the motion. This was appealed, and now, without going into too much detail, the judge has been remanded to the trial judge for a factual determination of whether Trump acted in his official capacity at the time he made those statements. The DOJ, however, has indicated that it may be reconsidering its position. The DOJ must inform the court of its intentions by July 13th.

Have you followed me up to this point? Carroll was allowed to amend her first-case pleadings after the verdict of the second case. She wanted to incorporate Trump’s comments made to Kaitlan Collins on CNN town hall the day following the verdict. Trump was against the amendment. He claimed that it would cause him “extreme prejudice” if Carroll were to replace rape with sexual abuse’ at 71 different times in her original suit. The judge granted the amendment.

Trump has now filed a counterclaim for defamation in the (first) case, based on Carroll’s accusation that he raped her during her CNN interview following the trial in the second case.

Trump filed a counterclaim on Tuesday, claiming that Carroll defamed him when she accused Trump of raping her during an appearance on CNN on May 10th. This was just one day after a jury of nine members found that Trump had not committed rape. In the counterclaim, Trump claimed that Carroll defamed when she replied, “Oh yes, he did, yes, he did” to a CNN interview question asking her opinion on the jury ruling that Trump wasn’t liable for the rape.

The counterclaim claims that Carroll “made these false statements with malice and ill-will with an intention to harm and attack Trump in a significant and spiteful manner.” This, in turn, has resulted in an excessive amount of damage.

Trump’s attorneys argued that Carroll made his comments on CNN on several platforms in order to reach a wide audience.

The filing by Trump’s attorneys stated that the interview was broadcast on TV, social media, and numerous internet websites with the intent of broadcasting and spreading these defamatory remarks to a large portion of the general public.

Are you ready for Reader’s Digest?

• Carroll sued Trump for defamation in 2019 over comments he made about her (and her accusations) in 2019.
• Carroll sued Trump for defamation and rape/sexual abuse in 2022 over comments he made about her (and her accusations) 2022.
• The 2022 lawsuit went to trial, and in May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse (not rape) and defamation.
• The next day, Carroll told CNN (and others) that Trump did, in fact, rape her (despite the jury’s finding).
• The next night, Trump told CNN that Carroll’s story was made-up and that she was a whack job.
• Carroll amended her claim in the (still-pending) 2019 suit to substitute “sexual abuse” for “rape” and to include Trump’s CNN comments.
• Trump has now filed a counterclaim in the 2019 suit over Carroll’s CNN comments that he raped her.
• Oh — and the DOJ, which previously claimed it should be substituted for Trump in the 2019 suit, is now scrambling to distance itself from it.