(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump is stepping up his efforts in his legal tussle with E. Jean Carroll, suing the New York author for defamation weeks after a jury found him responsible for sexually assaulting her.
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The former president filed a counterclaim Tuesday night accusing Carroll of undermining his reputation by publicly accusing him of rape on CNN, though jurors found his actions in the alleged 1996 assault were not gone that far.
Trump “was the subject of significant injury to his reputation, which, in turn, resulted in an excessive amount of damages suffered as a result,” according to the filing.
A jury of six men and three women last month found Trump liable for sexual abuse – not rape – before awarding Carroll $5 million in damages.
Trump’s filing in court on Tuesday is a counterclaim in a separate 2019 defamation lawsuit that Carroll filed against him and is expected to go to trial in January. While Carroll won the first trial, Trump interpreted the verdict as a victory, of sorts, because of the rape finding.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A lawyer for Trump had previously been denied court permission to file a counterclaim against Carroll in his defamation case because the request was made too late.
But Trump lawyer Alina Habba argues a new window to file a counterclaim was opened earlier this month when Carroll was allowed to amend her defamation suit after winning the battery lawsuit.
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Among other things, Carroll amended her complaint to change every reference from “rape” to “sexual abuse.” Carroll also edited the complaint to add Trump’s remarks about her in a CNN town hall, where he called her a liar after the trial and accused her of fabricating the attack.
Read more: Trump responsible for sexual abuse, must pay Carroll $5 million
When Carroll was questioned on CNN a day after the jury verdict found that Trump had not raped her, she falsely claimed otherwise, according to the filing.
“Oh yes he did, oh yes he did,” she said, according to the filing, which indicates Carroll made the comments “with the intent to hurt and attack. significantly and maliciously” the former president.
“The interview was broadcast on television, social media, and multiple websites, with the intent to broadcast and circulate these defamatory statements to a significant portion of the public,” Trump’s attorneys said. in the file.
The case is Carroll v. Trump, 22-cv-10016, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
–With help from Joel Rosenblatt.
(Updates with court filing allegations.)
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