E. Jean Carroll, the journalist who alleges President Donald Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room, is moving forward with a defamation suit after Trump dismissed the accusations by saying Carroll is “not [his] type].
Carroll, who first detailed the alleged attack in her memoir What Do We Need Men For?, filed the lawsuit in New York City on November 4. In the memoir, Carroll claims that in the mid-1990s, Trump pinned her to a wall in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room and raped her. Though Carroll did not report the rape at the time, two friends claim that she confided in them during the days immediately following the alleged attack. In response, President Trump has insisted that he never met Carroll, though a picture exists of the two posing together alongside their spouses at a party in the 1980s. According to the Guardian, the suit revolves around both the insults and Trump’s claim that the two never met:
“In her defamation suit, Carroll accuses Trump of lashing out ‘with a series of false and defamatory statements. He denied the rape. But there was more: he also denied ever having met Carroll or even knowing who she was … he accused Carroll of lying about the rape in order to increase book sales and for good measure, insulted her physical appearance.’”
Of the 25 women who allege that Donald Trump sexually assaulted them, Carroll is the second to file a defamation suit. A defamation suit filed by Summer Zervos, a former Apprentice contestant who claims Trump sexually assaulted her in a hotel room, is currently moving through New York City courts after a judge ruled the case had enough merit to proceed. President Trump has been ordered to sit for a deposition regarding the Zervos lawsuit on December 19, 2019.
In a statement regarding her own defamation suit, Carroll said:
“I am filing this lawsuit for every woman who’s been pinched, prodded, cornered, felt-up, pushed against a wall, grabbed, groped, assaulted, and has spoken up only to be shamed, demeaned, disgraced, passed over for promotion, fired and forgotten.”