By Jack Queen
(Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump sued E. Jean Carroll on Tuesday for defamation, alleging she falsely accused him of rape after a jury in a civil trial found he assaulted her sexually.
Trump’s counterclaim against Carroll in Manhattan federal court comes after a jury’s unusual finding in May that he sexually abused and defamed but did not rape Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist.
Trump is seeking a retraction as well as unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Carroll’s attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
Trump’s filing signals that his multi-pronged legal battle with Carroll is unlikely to end soon, as the two sides trade accusations and denials in the press.
Carroll amended the first of his two lawsuits against Trump and sought an additional $10 million in damages in May, citing his denials during an appearance on CNN the day after the verdict.
Trump’s filing in that same trial on Tuesday cites Carroll’s statements to CNN after the verdict, when she said Trump raped her despite the jury’s finding that he did not sexually abuse her.
Trump, who is running to retake the White House in 2024 and has a comfortable lead over his Republican rivals, denied raping Carroll. He is appealing the verdict, which found that he must pay $5 million in damages.
Carroll testified that Trump raped her in a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and then ruined her reputation by calling her a liar when she went public in 2019.
The new filings come in Carroll’s first lawsuit against Trump, which she filed in 2019 for defamation only. The case got bogged down in calls over whether Trump was immune from prosecution because he had been president when he spoke.
Trump filed his second lawsuit against Trump for defamation and sexual assault after New York passed a law giving survivors of sexual violence a window to file civil lawsuits even if the statute of limitations on their claims had passed.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Kim Coghill)