Trump Sued for Defamation by Woman Making 1990s Rape Claim
Trump Sued for Defamation by Woman Who Says He Raped Her in ‘90s
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump was sued for defamation by a journalist who claims he raped her two decades ago in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman luxury department store in Manhattan.
E. Jean Carroll, who went public with her allegations in June, filed the lawsuit Monday in New York state court in Manhattan, claiming Trump had damaged her reputation with a series of false tweets denying her story.
“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,” Carroll, an author and advice columnist, said in a statement. “No woman should have to face this.”
Carroll made the claim in an article she wrote for New York magazine. At the time, she was working on a book that included an account of the alleged attack, which she says took place in an “uncharacteristically empty” dressing room in 1995 or 1996, after she bumped into Trump while shopping.
Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, dismissed Carroll’s claims. “Let me get this straight -- Ms. Carroll is suing the president for defending himself against false allegations?” Grisham said in an email. “Her version of events is not even feasible if you’ve ever tried on clothing in a dressing room of a crowded department store. The lawsuit is frivolous.”
Carroll, 75, is one of more than a dozen women who’ve accused Trump of sexual misconduct. The suit is similar to another defamation suit filed in the same court by former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos, who claims Trump defamed her by denying her allegations of sexual assault. Trump has agreed to submit to questioning in the Zervos case.
In June, Trump told reporters outside the White House that Carroll’s claim was “a totally false accusation” and said he had “absolutely no idea who she is.” The president also said her book “should be sold in the fiction section.”
According to Carroll’s complaint, Trump “lashed out” in tweets and in interviews that suggested she’d made up the story to attract attention. Trump also told The Hill that Carroll was “not my type,” according to the lawsuit.
The complaint includes a black-and-white photograph of Carroll with Trump at an event in 1987, which she says refutes his claim that he had no idea who she was. According to Carroll, they ran in the same media circles and he immediately recognized her when they met at the department store.
Carroll, who works as an advice columnist for Elle magazine, said in her complaint that Trump’s comments caused her to lose the support of many of her readers, with the number of letters seeking her advice dropping by half.
Past Remarks
She sought to bolster her claim by highlighting Trump’s past remarks about women, including his 2005 Access Hollywood hot-mic comment about grabbing women by their genitalia, which was made public shortly before the election in 2016. Trump dismissed his comment as “locker room talk” and said he wasn’t speaking literally.
“Based on Carroll’s own experiences, Trump’s 2005 statement was not ‘locker room talk’ or mere braggadocio,” the lawsuit alleges. “It was a true description of how Trump believes he can treat women -- and how he has treated them on many occasions.”
Carroll pointed to a 2013 tweet regarding the high number of unreported sexual assaults in the military, when he said, “What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”
Carroll said she was inspired to go public with her allegations after women came forward with stories about Harvey Weinstein.
“I am filing this lawsuit for every woman who’s been pinched, prodded, cornered, felt-up, pushed against a wall, grabbed, groped, assaulted, and has spoken up only to be shamed, demeaned, disgraced, passed over for promotion, fired, and forgotten,” Carroll said in the statement. “No person in this country should be above the law -- including the President.”
Trying On Bodysuit
In her lawsuit, Carroll said that after she ran into Trump they headed to the lingerie section, and that Trump grabbed a bodysuit and said she should try it on. They went into a dressing room together, and once the door closed, she alleges that Trump pushed her against the wall and raped her.
“He lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips,” Carroll wrote. “I am so shocked I shove him back and start laughing again. He seizes both my arms and pushes me up against the wall a second time, and, as I become aware of how large he is, he holds me against the wall with his shoulder and jams his hand under my coat dress and pulls down my tights.”
The lawsuit seeks a court order forcing Trump to retract the statements, as well as unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Steve Stroth
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