Trump defamed me again, rape accuser Carroll says in forthcoming lawsuit

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The writer accusing Donald Trump of raping her 27 years ago said the former U.S. president defamed her a second time last month by falsely telling his social media followers that he had not known her and the rape never happened.

E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, made the accusation in a lawsuit she plans to file on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, accusing Trump of battery over their alleged encounter at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan.

A draft of the lawsuit was included in a Thursday filing by her lawyer Roberta Kaplan in Manhattan federal court, where Carroll is also suing Trump for defamation over an earlier statement about the incident.

The second lawsuit also includes a civil claim under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law giving adult accusers one year starting on Nov. 24 to sue over alleged sexual misconduct from long ago, even if statutes of limitations expired.

"Typical gamesmanship from Roberta Kaplan," Trump's lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement. "This filing is completely inappropriate and we will take up this issue with the court."

The latest defamation claim stemmed from Trump's Oct. 12 post on his Truth Social account where the former president lashed out at Carroll, calling her accusations "a Hoax and a lie" and repeating that she was "not my type!"

"E. Jean Carroll is not telling the truth, is a woman who I had nothing to do with, didn't know, and would have no interest in knowing her if I ever had the chance," Trump said.

"Now all I have to do is go through years more of legal nonsense in order to clear my name of her and her lawyer's phony attacks on me," he added. "This can only happen to 'Trump'!"

To support her battery claim, Carroll said Trump's alleged assault caused her lasting psychological harm, a loss of dignity and significant pain and suffering, and left her unable to sustain a romantic relationship.

The proposed lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, and a retraction of Trump's statement.

Carroll's earlier lawsuit stemmed from Trump's June 2019 statement denying that he raped her, and saying she concocted their alleged encounter to sell her forthcoming book.

A Washington, D.C., appeals court will consider in January whether Trump, who was then in the White House, acted as president when he first branded Carroll a liar.

If the court found that Trump acted in his official capacity when he spoke, and the United States could be substituted as a defendant, then Carroll's lawsuit would fail because the government is shielded from defamation claims.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversees that case, Carroll asked to delay the scheduled trial to April 10, and have it cover both lawsuits.

Trump's lawyers have proposed a May 8 trial that does not address the second lawsuit, court papers show.

A status conference is scheduled for Nov. 22.

The case is Carroll v. Trump, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-07311.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Howard Goller)