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Trump's counterclaim against Carroll in Manhattan federal court
comes after a jury's unusual finding in May that he sexually
abused and defamed but did not rape Carroll, a former Elle
magazine advice columnist.
Trump seeks a retraction as well as unspecified compensatory and
punitive damages.
Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement that
Trump's filing was "nothing more than his latest effort to delay
accountability" for the jury's verdict.
"Donald Trump again argues, contrary to both logic and fact,
that he was exonerated by a jury that found that he sexually
abused E. Jean Carroll," Kaplan said.
Trump's lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
The filing by Trump signals that his multi-front legal fight
with Carroll is unlikely to end soon as both sides trade
accusations and denials in the media.
Carroll amended the first of her two lawsuits against Trump and
sought an additional $10 million in damages in May, citing his
denials during a CNN appearance the day after the verdict.
Trump's filing in that same lawsuit Tuesday cite Carroll's
statements on CNN after the verdict, when she said Trump raped
her despite the jury's finding that he only sexually abused her.
Trump, who is running to retake the White House in 2024 and has
a comfortable lead over his Republican rivals, has denied raping
Carroll. He is appealing the verdict, which found he must pay $5
million in damages.
Carroll testified that Trump raped her in a New York City
department store in the mid-1990s and then ruined her reputation
by calling her a liar when she went public in 2019.
The new filings come in Carroll’s first lawsuit against Trump,
which she filed in 2019 for defamation only. The case has been
bogged down in appeals over whether Trump was immune from being
sued because he had been president when he spoke.
Carroll filed her second lawsuit against Trump for both
defamation and sexual assault after New York passed a law giving
survivors of sexual violence a window to file civil suits even
if the statute of limitations on their claims had passed.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Kim Coghill,
Robert Birsel)
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