Former President Donald Trump said he plans to file a counter lawsuit against E. Jean Carroll, the author who accused him of sexually assaulting her more than two decades ago.
Trump has denied Carroll’s allegations and asked a federal court in New York this week for permission to file a counterclaim against her after she filed a defamation lawsuit against him, according to Bloomberg. His court request argues Carroll’s lawsuit was filed in bad faith.
Carroll filed the defamation lawsuit against Trump after he accused her of fabricating her allegations against him, joking that she wasn’t his type.
“I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?” he said at the time.
“Totally lying. I don’t know anything about her. I know nothing about this woman,” he said. “I know nothing about her. She is — it’s just a terrible thing that people can make statements like that.”
Carroll responded that her lawsuit was for “every woman who has ever been harassed, assaulted, silenced, or spoken up only to be shamed, fired, ridiculed, and belittled.”
“No person in this country should be above the law — including the president,” she claimed.
However, the Justice Department under both Trump’s administration and the Biden administration ruled that Trump did not act illegally or inappropriately when he made the comments.
Still, Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan insisted Trump’s counter lawsuit is nothing more than a delay tactic.
“Trump sat on his hands for a year after the anti-SLAPP law was passed,” Kaplan said. “While Trump may be notorious for using the courts to attack women he has assaulted, his latest gambit will not work — when it comes to E. Jean Carroll, the truth will prevail.”
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, alleged that Trump assaulted her in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City during fall 1995 or spring 1996.
