E. Jean Carroll files lawsuit saying Trump “forcibly raped and groped her” in the 1990s

A writer who accused former President Donald Trump of rape filed an updated lawsuit against him in New York on Thursday, just minutes after a new state law went into effect enabling victims of sexual abuse to sue for crimes decades past.

The legal filings were submitted online by E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer as the Adult Survivor’s Act temporarily extended the state’s regular deadlines for suing over sexual assault. She requested specific compensatory and punitive damages for pain and suffering, psychological harm, loss of dignity, and reputation damage.

Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice writer, initially made the claim in a 2019 book, claiming Trump raped her in a Manhattan luxury department store changing room in 1995 or 1996. Trump replied to the charges in the book by claiming that it could never have happened since Carroll was “not my type.”

Carroll filed a defamation action against him in response to his statements, but the case is stuck in appeals courts while judges debate whether he is immune from legal claims for comments made while he was president.

Carroll was barred from suing over the claimed rape under state law since it had been too many years since the incident. New York’s new law, on the other hand, provides sex crime victims who missed the statute of limitations deadlines a second opportunity to file a lawsuit. A one-year window for such suits will be opened, after which the standard time limits will be resumed.

Hundreds of lawsuits are likely, many of which will be filed by women who claim they were abused by coworkers, prison guards, medical professionals, or others. Carroll argues in her latest claims that Trump committed violence “when he forcibly raped and groped her” and that he defamed her last month when he denied raping her.

Trump said in his statement that Carroll “completely made up a story that I met her at the doors of this crowded New York City Department Store and, within minutes, ‘swooned’ her. It is a Hoax and a lie, just like all the other Hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years.” Carroll’s new option to sue Trump for rape may help her in avoiding a potentially fatal legal defect in her initial defamation lawsuit.

At the hearing, Trump’s lawyer, Michael Madaio, stated that the new charges are significantly different from the first defamation action and would need “an entirely new set” of evidence gathering. On Wednesday, Trump’s counsel did not reply to a message requesting comment. After the complaint was filed less than 10 minutes into the new day, another mail was sent to the lawyer seeking a response.