Trump rape accuser’s lawyers says president is doing ‘everything he can’ to stop her case

E. Jean Carroll is suing president for defamation after he accused her of ‘lying’

Lawyers representing a writer who accuses Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s have said Mr Trump is doing “everything he can to stop the truth from ever coming out”.

Specifically, lawyers acting for E. Jean Carroll have said the president is delaying the case with efforts to avoid providing DNA evidence and an insistence on waiting for a judgment in a different case which could take months to be handed down.

Ms Carroll is suing Mr Trump for defamation after he accused her of “totally lying” in a book she released last year, in which she alleged he raped her in the 1990s.

As part of the evidence-gathering process for her case, Ms Carroll’s team are seeking a DNA sample from Mr Trump to test against genetic material on a dress she says she wore during the alleged rape – and which she claims not to have worn or laundered since, except for a photoshoot last year.

Mr Trump’s lawyers have called Ms Carroll’s requests for evidence “extensive and burdensome”. They are also asking the court to wait for a decision in another defamation case, in which it will be decided whether the incumbent president can be sued in the state courts.

Ms Carroll, formerly a longtime Elle Magazine columnist, alleged last year that Mr Trump raped her in the 1990s after the two met in a luxury department store in Manhattan.

He claims never to have met her, though a photo from 1987 shows the two of them standing together with their spouses. Mr Trump has claimed the picture merely shows him standing in a line.

The other defamation case Mr Trump is fighting has been brought by another female accuser, former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos, who has accused Mr Trump of subjecting her to unwanted kissing and groping in 2007.

Both Ms Zervos and Ms Carroll are seeking damages and retractions of Mr Trump’s statements about them. Ms Zervos is also seeking an apology.