Former President Donald Trump has filed a counterclaim against writer E. Jean Carroll, saying she defamed him in comments after winning a civil trial against Trump last month.
Carroll has insisted Trump raped her during a 1990s encounter at a New York City department store. The former president has strongly denied it.
In May, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation and awarded Carroll $5 million. It did not find him liable for rape.
The former president filed a counterclaim on Tuesday saying Carroll is guilty of defamation for continuing to say he raped her in spite of the jury’s finding.
The counterclaim refers to Carroll II because Carroll has two additional lawsuits pending against Trump. The first is scheduled to go to trial next year, according to The Hill.
Carroll is referred to in the suit as “Counterclaim Defendant,” Trump is the “Counterclaimant.”
Trump’s counterclaim said that in an interview on CNN, Carroll “was specifically asked about the jury unanimously finding Counterclaimant not liable for rape in Carroll II.”
“In response to that specific inquiry, Counterclaim Defendant disregarded the jury’s finding that Counterclaimant did not rape her, and replied: ‘oh yes he did, oh yes he did,’” the filing said.
The counterclaim also accused Carroll of approaching Trump’s lawyer in the case and saying, “He did it and you know it.”
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“ Counterclaim Defendant made these statements knowing each of them were false or with reckless disregard for their truth or falsity,” the counterclaim said.
“Counterclaim Defendant made these false statements with actual malice and ill will with an intent to significantly and spitefully harm and attack Counterclaimant’s reputation, as these false statements were clearly contrary to the jury verdict in Carroll II whereby Counterclaimant was found not liable for rape by the jury,” it said.
CARROLL: In an amended answer signed only by Alina Habba’s firm — and not Joe Tacopina, who tried the second Carroll case — Trump has countersued Carroll for defamation. Why? Because the jury only found him liable for sexually assault, not rape.https://t.co/54KB9VF99a
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) June 28, 2023
The counterclaim said Carroll’s comments “constitute defamation per se, as Counterclaim Defendant accused Counterclaimant of rape, which clearly was not committed, according to the jury verdict in Carroll II. “
“Due to Counterclaim Defendant’s repeated falsehoods and defamatory statements made against the Counterclaimant, Counterclaimant has been the subject of significant harm to his reputation, which, in turn, has yielded an inordinate amount of damages sustained as a result,” the filing said.
The counterclaim called for Carroll to be forced to retract her comments and would deprive her of the $10 million she is seeking from Trump in the case in which the counterclaim was filed.
She increased her complaint of $10 million following comments Trump made on CNN the day after the verdict against him in which he called her a “whack job” during a town hall.
“I have no idea who the hell she is. I don’t know who this woman is. … She’s a whack job,” he said.
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Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, downplayed the counterclaim, according to The New York Times.
“Trump’s filing is thus nothing more than his latest effort to delay accountability for what a jury has already found to be his defamation of E. Jean Carroll,” she said. “But whether he likes it or not, that accountability is coming very soon.”
