Donald Trump New Lawsuit: A writer who has accused former President Donald Trump of rape filed an amended lawsuit against him on Thursday in New York, mere minutes after a new state law allowing victims of se*ual violence to sue for decades-old assaults went into effect.
The attorney for E. Jean Carroll filed the legal documents electronically because the Adult Survivor’s Act temporarily waived the state’s usual deadlines for filing se*ual assault lawsuits. She sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for pain and suffering, psychological injuries, loss of dignity, and damage to her reputation.
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, stated in a 2019 book that Trump raped her in 1995 or 1996 in the dressing room of a Manhattan luxury department store. Trump responded to the book’s allegations by saying it could never have happened because Carroll was “not my type.” Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against him in response to his remarks, but the case has been stalled in appeals courts while judges determine whether he is immune from legal liability for comments made while he was president.
Previously, Carroll had 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 se* crime victims who missed deadlines associated with the statute of limitations a second chance to file a lawsuit. A window for such suits will open for one year, after which the usual time limits will be reinstated.
At least hundreds of lawsuits are expected, including many filed by women who say they were assaulted by co-workers, prison guards, medical providers, or others. Carroll asserts in her new allegations that Trump committed battery “when he forcibly raped and groped her” and defamed her when he denied raping her last month.
Trump said in his statement that Carroll “completely made up a story that I met her at the doors of this crowded New York City Department Store and, within minutes, ‘swooned’ her. It is a Hoax and a lie, just like all the other Hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years.” Carroll’s new ability to sue Trump for rape may allow her to circumvent a potentially fatal legal flaw in her original defamation case.
If the courts ultimately determine that Trump’s initial disparaging remarks about Carroll’s alleged rape were part of his official duties as president, she would be precluded from suing him for defamation, as federal employees are immune from such claims. This protection would not apply to his actions prior to becoming president.
In a statement regarding the new lawsuit, Kaplan said her client “intends to hold Donald Trump accountable not only for defaming her but also for se*ually assaulting her, which he did years ago in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman.”
“Thanksgiving Day was the very first day Ms. Carroll could file under New York law so our complaint was filed with the court shortly after midnight,” she added. Attorney Michael Madaio, a lawyer for Trump, said at the hearing that the new allegations are significantly different than the original defamation lawsuit and would require “an entirely new set” of evidence gathering.
On Wednesday, Trump’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment. A second message requesting comment was sent to the attorney less than 10 minutes after the lawsuit was filed on a new day.
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