NEW YORK, Nov 24 (Reuters) – Donald Trump was sued on Thursday for defamation by a writer who accused the former US president of lying when he denied raping her 27 years ago.
In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll also accused Trump of assault during an alleged encounter at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan.
Carroll, 78, has filed a lawsuit under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, a new law giving victims of sexual assault a year to sue their alleged abusers, even if the abuse happened a long time ago and the statutes of limitations have expired.
Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, was the first day the accusers could sue.
Trump, 76, denied raping Carroll or knowing her at the time, and said she was “not my type”.
Her first denial in June 2019 prompted her to file a defamation suit five months later.
He repeated the denial in an October 12 post on his Truth Social account, calling Carroll’s claim a “hoax” and a “lie”, prompting the new defamation lawsuit.
Both sides are awaiting appellate court rulings on Trump’s argument that he was legally immune from Carroll’s first trial because he spoke in his capacity as president.
If the courts agreed that the US government, which enjoys sovereign immunity from defamation suits, could substitute for Trump as a defendant, Carroll’s first lawsuit would fail.
It likely wouldn’t affect his second trial as Trump is a private citizen, having left the White House in January 2021.
Carroll seeks unspecified damages. To back up her battery claim, she said Trump caused lasting psychological harm to her and left her unable to sustain a romantic relationship.
The first trial is scheduled for trial on February 6, 2023, before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, but will likely be delayed due to appeals.
At a hearing on Tuesday, Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, called for an April 10 trial covering the two lawsuits, saying they overlapped significantly.
Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, has requested a May 8 trial only for the first trial. She also told the judge that a longer delay made sense because Trump had not hired a lawyer for the second trial.
“Your client in this action, Ms. Habba, has known this has been happening for months, and it would be well advised to decide who represents her in this case,” the judge replied.
Judge Kaplan said he could decide early next week how to schedule the two prosecutions.
Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Howard Goller and Nick Zieminski
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