Donald Trump countersues E Jean Carroll for defamation over rape claims

Former president files counterclaim in Manhattan federal court, accusing author of tarnishing his reputation

Donald Trump sued E Jean Carroll for defamation on Tuesday after a jury held him liable for sexually abusing her.

The former president filed a counterclaim in Manhattan federal court, accusing the author of tarnishing his reputation publicly. He has sought retraction as well as unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

According to the court filing, Mr Trump “has been the subject of significant harm to his reputation, which, in turn, has yielded an inordinate amount of damages sustained as a result”.

Last month, a jury of six men and three women found that the former president was liable for sexual abuse, and not liable for rape, before awarding Ms Carroll $5m in damages.

He also launched a fresh defamatory attack on Ms Carroll last month just hours after her lawyers formally asked to amend her remaining defamation lawsuit against the ex-president to include his “smears” at a CNN town hall.

“Trump’s defamatory statements post-verdict show the depth of his malice toward Carroll since it is hard to imagine defamatory conduct that could possibly be more motivated by hatred, ill will, or spite,” the proposed amended complaint said.

“This conduct supports a very substantial punitive damages award in Carroll’s favour both to punish Trump, to deter him from engaging in further defamation, and to deter others from doing the same,” the complaint said.

After his statements about her on CNN, Ms Carroll’s lawyers had asked a Manhattan federal court judge for permission to amend the first defamation lawsuit that she filed against Ms Trump in 2019.

He later wrote on Truth Social: “I don’t know E Jean Carroll, I never met her or touched her (except on a celebrity line with her African American husband who she disgustingly called the ‘Ape,’),” he wrote. Mr Trump has previously also accused Ms Carroll of calling her husband “ape”, without any evidence.

“I wouldn’t want to know or touch her, I never abused her or raped her or took her to a dressing room 25 years ago in a crowded department store where the doors are LOCKED, she has no idea when, or did anything else to her, except deny her Fake, Made Up Story, that she wrote in a book. IT NEVER HAPPENED, IS A TOTAL SCAM, UNFAIR TRIAL!” he added.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s lawyers said in the court filing on Tuesday: “The interview was on television, social media and multiple internet websites, with the intention of broadcasting and circulating these defamatory statements among a significant portion of the public.”

The former president’s court filing on Tuesday is a counterclaim in a separate 2019 defamation lawsuit Ms Carroll filed against him that is set to go to trial in January, it was reported. While Ms Carroll won the first trial, the former president has interpreted the verdict as a victory, of sorts, because of the finding on rape.

Additional reporting from agencies