Status: 11/24/2022 10:24 p.m
The US author Carroll is suing again against ex-US President Trump and is demanding damages. She accuses him of raping her in a department store in the mid-1990s. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegation.
US columnist E. Jean Carroll has sued ex-President Donald Trump over allegations of rape. Carroll’s attorneys sought damages, among other things, in the complaint alleging personal injury and damage to reputation, which was filed in a Manhattan court. The 78-year-old accused Trump of raping her in a New York department store in 1995.
A new law that went into effect on Thursday in the state of New York has now made it possible for her to pursue the new lawsuit. According to the law, alleged rape victims can sue alleged perpetrators for damages regardless of the statute of limitations. So far, she has only been able to sue the ex-president for defamation because the alleged crime was statute-barred.
Trump: She’s “totally lying”
Carroll and Trump have been in court since 2019 over allegations of defamation. Trump has previously denied the allegations, saying the former Elle magazine columnist was “totally lying.” He added: “She’s not my type.” He also accused her of only wanting to sell her new book.
Carroll then sued Trump for portraying her as a liar and thus defaming her. In October, Trump had to testify under oath in the trial. However, the hearing was then stayed by an appeals court because judges had to clarify whether Trump was protected from legal consequences for statements he made during his presidency from 2017 to 2021.
Since then, Trump has repeatedly managed to delay the process. Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, told AFP that she respects and admires people who speak out. However, this case “unfortunately represents a misappropriation of the law, which creates a serious precedent and risks delegitimizing the credibility of the actual victims”.
Carroll had been silent for over 20 years before writing her story in a book in 2019 – encouraged by the #MeToo movement against violence against women, which started in 2017.