Even after being voted out of office, Donald Trump cannot stop being a magnet for controversies and lawsuits. But one of the most surprising lawsuits comes from writer E. Jean Carroll, a woman who alleges Donald Trump raped her.
Trump has been trying to delay this lawsuit as much as possible: after all, Carroll filed the suit back in November 2019, so we’d expect the trial to be over by now. But Trump has tried many delaying tactics, including making his own attempt in February 2022 to countersue his accuser for harassment.
However, in March a federal judge ruled that Trump could not countersue Carroll. And in his decision, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan specifically called Trump out for delaying a case that should long ago have been resolved.
In other words, Carroll’s lawsuit against Trump will proceed. But what is the lawsuit about, and what explosive allegations are at the center of it? Keep reading to learn more!
What is Carroll’s rape allegation against Trump?
Trump’s accuser is E. Jean Carroll, a professional writer best known for her long-running advice column “Ask E. Jean,” which ran in Elle Magazine from 1993-2019. The world first learned of her rape allegation against Trump in an excerpt from her memoir What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal published in New York Magazine in June 2019.
Carroll claims the rape occurred in 1995 or 1996 at the Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman. She was a television host at the time and says Trump recognized her from TV and asked for her help to pick out a gift for a woman. Carroll alleges that Trump asked her to try on some lingerie in the store’s dressing room and then pinned her to the wall and sexually assaulted her for a length of three minutes.
Carroll says she didn’t publicly accuse Trump at the time of the alleged assault, fearing legal retribution from Trump and damage to her reputation, among other reasons. But she felt empowered to share her story with the public after the #MeToo movement took off in 2018, when the world finally started believing women’s claims of sexual abuse against powerful men such as Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby.
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Donald Trump responds to Carroll’s rape accusation
Trump has publicly responded to Caroll’s accusation a few different times, but his tactic has remained the same. Specifically: deny, deny, deny.
As NBC News reports, Trump originally claimed that Carroll was “totally lying” and that he had “never met this person in my life.” Even when Caroll produced a photo from 1987 showing them together at a party (via The New Yorker), he maintained that he still didn’t know who she was. Furthermore, he famously made the disparaging statement “she’s not my type” in an interview with The Hill at the White House.
Trump even went so far as to release a statement in June 2019 that Caroll made up her allegation in order to sell her book. “She is trying to sell a new book — that should indicate her motivation,” Trump said, adding that it “should be sold in the fiction section.”
However, Trump’s claim that Caroll lied about the alleged rape in order to increase her book sales are exactly what landed him in legal trouble. She sued him for defamation in November 2019, five month’s after her book’s release.
But why did Caroll sue him for defamation instead of rape? That’s a very good reason for that.
Why Carroll is suing Trump for defamation instead of rape
Carroll specifically alleges that Donald Trump raped her, but her lawsuit focuses on defamation, claiming Trump caused her “to suffer reputational, emotional, and professional harm.” That brings us to a good question: why is she suing for defamation rather than suing for rape?
The short answer is the statute of limitations. The alleged sexual assault took place in the mid-’90s, when the statue of limitations in the state of New York was five years (via NBC News). Carroll wasn’t ready to publicly accuse Trump until 2019. But by that point, it was too late to sue Trump for rape. (Although New York abolished the statute of limitations for certain types of assault in 2006, the change does not retroactively apply to crimes committed before 2006.)
Sadly, many sexual assault victims cannot seek justice due to the statute of limitations. However, Carroll has an avenue to prove her claims in court by suing him for defamation. While Trump will not face criminal charges for rape in this civil case, Caroll may feel vindicated if she can prove to the world that Trump lied that he did not rape her.
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Caroll claims she has DNA evidence against Trump
Trump might have been able to rest easier about this case if all Carroll had was her word against his. However, Carroll claims that not only has she held onto the Donna Karan coatdress she was wearing when Trump allegedly raped her, but that there is DNA evidence from Trump on it that can prove he sexually assaulted her.
“The Donna Karan coatdress still hangs on the back of my closet door, unworn and unlaundered since that evening,” she wrote in her book (via NBC News). Now, her legal team is requesting a saliva sample from Donald Trump to test his DNA in order to corroborate her allegations.
This may help explain why Trump is fighting against this lawsuit tooth and nail. A DNA sample may be a kind of smoking gun that helps to prove Carroll’s explosive claims.
The case developments so far
As we noted earlier, there have been few case developments so far because, in addition to legal delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump keeps trying to delay the case.
First, Trump tried to get help from the Department of Justice in 2020. His logic was that his statements about Carroll were made in his official capacity as president, but this request was denied.
Trump tried to delay the case again in 2021 while they awaited a judgment from an appeals court. This, too, was denied. Then, in February 022, Trump’s legal team tried to countersue Carroll as their final attempt to delay the case.
Judge Kaplan blocked that countersue attempt and called Trump out for delaying a case that could have been over long ago. And for the moment, it looks like Carroll’s case can finally move forward.
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The next steps
What’s next for E. Jean Carroll and her lawsuit? So far, we know a few important details.
In February 2022, her legal team made the formal request for Trump’s DNA sample. They seem confident in what that sample analysis will show and are not trying to subpoena Trump to testify under oath.
We don’t yet have a date for the next hearing in the case. But with Trump’s attempt to countersue Carroll blocked, her case has finally moved one step closer to a trial.