Veteran magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll on Monday, November 4th sued President Donald Trump for defamation over what she says were his lies denying her public accusation in June that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.
The lawsuit, which includes a detailed account of the incident in which Trump allegedly raped Carroll in a dressing room at luxury Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman, was filed in New York state Supreme Court.
After Carroll went public with her account earlier this year, initially through a book excerpt in New York magazine, Trump denied the incident had occurred, calling it “totally false” and that he “never met this person”.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham suggested Carroll herself was lying. “Let me get this straight Ms. Carroll is suing the President for defending himself against false allegations? I guess since the book did not make any money she’s trying to get paid another way. The story she used to try and sell her trash book never happened, period”. she said.
Carroll claims that her column depends on reader letters soliciting her advice, and that during July, August and September, she received roughly 50% fewer letters than she did during the same period in 2018. Carroll’s lawsuit asks Trump to “retract any and all defamatory statements” and pay damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
