The defamation lawsuit and the rape allegations against Donald Trump, explained

Former US president Donald Trump is set to testify on Wednesday (19 October) in a defamation lawsuit against him filed by famous American columnist E Jean Carroll.

Last week, a New York federal judge cleared the way for Trump’s deposition, saying the Republican Party leader had tried to delay the case and “should not be able to run out the clock”, CNN reported.

Carroll had sued then-president Trump for defamation in a New York civil court in November 2019.

But why has the American columnist filed a defamation suit against Donald Trump? What has Trump said about the case? Let’s take a look.

The case against Donald Trump

E Jean Carroll, in a book and excerpt in New York Magazine in 2019, had accused Donald Trump of raping her in a changing room at the luxury Bergdorf Goodman department store on Fifth Avenue in New York department store in the mid-1990s.

She claimed that “he pushed her against a dressing room wall, pulled down her tights, opened his pants and forced himself upon her”, reports New York Times (NYT). 

The then US president denied the claims, saying she was “totally lying” and was not his “type”.

The former Elle magazine columnist filed defamation against Trump for ‘harming’ her reputation when he claimed she lied about the sexual assault and was motivated by money, as per CNBC.

Over a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, each of which have been denied by him.

In September this year, Carroll accused Trump of ‘stonewalling and trying to avoid a scheduled deposition’ in the defamation suit, The Guardian reported.

Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, asked Judge Lewis A Kaplan of US District Court in Manhattan to delay the deposition while a key question about the lawsuit was considered on appeal, reports NYT.

This came after the second US circuit court of appeals in Manhattan asked Washington DC appeals court to decide “whether Trump acted as president when he branded Carroll a liar” in 2019, as per The Guardian.

The US District Court judge refused Trump’s request on 12 October for putting the deposition on hold.

Kaplan also rejected Trump’s call to replace him as a defendant in the case and include the US government on the basis that the alleged defamation took place when he was the President, CNBC reported.

This ruling opened the possibility that the defamation case can go to trial in February.

Trump’s counter

Donald Trump’s stance remains unchanged since he was sued by Carroll.

After Kaplan dismissed Trump’s request to delay, the 76-year-old politician took to social media to hit out at the columnist.

“This ‘Ms Bergdorf Goodman’ case is a complete con job,” Trump said in a statement.

As per NYT, he claimed Carroll was “not telling the truth that he did not know her — and that she was not his type”.

“While I am not supposed to say it, I will,” he added.

Reacting to his comments, a spokesperson for Carroll’s lawyers said that Trump’s statement “obviously does not merit a response”, reports NYT.

Donald Trump’s legal woes

Earlier in September, Carroll’s lawyers said she intends to sue Trump in late November under the New York Adult Survivors Act that allows the survivors of sexual assault to file a case years after the encounter, reports CNN.

She will “allege battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress in the suit”, her lawyers said.

Judge Kaplan said last week that in view of the potential filing of this second lawsuit, there was no reason to delay Trump’s deposition.

“The question whether Mr Trump in fact raped Ms Carroll is central to this case,” the US judge wrote in his ruling.

“But it will be central also to the new case that almost certainly will be filed on 24 November 2022 or soon thereafter,” he said, as per CNBC.

Trump is already in hot water with the Justice Department and Congress probing his role in the events of the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Moreover, Trump is also under scrutiny after the FBI seized thousands of sensitive government documents from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

Last month, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump with a US $250 million lawsuit, accusing him of fraud. The civil lawsuit alleges that the former President, his company – the Trump Organization, and his three children– Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump– lied to lenders and insurers about billions of dollars’ worth of assets.

With inputs from agencies

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