E. Jean Carroll Sues Trump for Defamation After He Disputed Her Rape Allegation
E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused President Donald Trump of raping her in a New York City department store dressing room in the mid-1990s, filed a defamation lawsuit against the president on Monday.
Carroll wrote about the alleged incident in her book “What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal,” released in early July.
Trump has denied Carroll’s charge, saying he had never met the writer. He further accused her of making up her account in order to promote her book.
“I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?” Trump said in June, when Carroll first made her allegation.
“Totally lying. I don’t know anything about her,” he added. “I know nothing about this woman. I know nothing about her. She is — it’s just a terrible thing that people can make statements like that.”
Carroll stood by her charge in a statement regarding her defamation suit, which was filed in the New York State Supreme Court, NBC News reported.
“Decades ago, the now President of the United States raped me. When I had the courage to speak out about the attack, he defamed my character, accused me of lying for personal gain, even insulted my appearance. No woman should have to face this,” Carroll said, according to CNBC.
“But this lawsuit is not only about me,” she continued. “I am filing this on behalf of every woman who has ever been harassed, assaulted, silenced, or spoken up only to be shamed, fired, ridiculed and belittled.”
In her memoir, Carroll, 75, wrote that she and Trump met at Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman department store in late 1995 or 1996.
She said that he assaulted her in a dressing room after they had shopped and talked together, the Washington Examiner reported.
Two of Carroll’s friends allegedly corroborated her story.
During an appearance on CNN in June, Carroll described the encounter to host Anderson Cooper, saying “it was against my will, and it hurt, and it was a fight.”
“I was not thrown on the ground and ravished,” Carroll explained. “The word rape carries so many sexual connotations. This was not sexual. It just hurt.”
Cooper responded that most people think of rape as violent.
“I think most people think of rape as being sexy. They think of the fantasies,” Carroll replied, which prompted Cooper to cut to commercial.
“You’re fascinating to talk to,” Carroll said as the CNN host ended the segment.
In June, Carroll told MSNBC that she did not plan to bring rape or sexual assault charges against Trump because it would be “it disrespectful to the women who are down on the border who are being raped around the clock down there without any protection.”
In a statement, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham called Carroll’s suit “frivolous” and the author herself a “fraud.”
“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,” Grisham said.
“The story she used to try and sell her trash book never happened, period.”
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