Trump sues E. Jean Carroll for defamation over remark she made on CNN

Carroll said that Trump did rape her, during an interview with CNN, after a jury did not find him liable for her alleged rape.

By Kenan Grier

Published: June 28, 2023 12:23pm

Former President Donald Trump is suing E. Jean Carroll for defamation over comments she made on CNN following the verdict in her civil suit against him.

When asked about the jury finding Trump sexually abused her but did not rape her, Carroll said, “Well, I just immediately say in my own head, ‘Oh, yes, he did. Oh yes, he did.’”

Trump’s suit against Carroll alleges she said the statement "with actual malice and ill will with an intent to significantly and spitefully harm and attack," his reputation, according to NBC News.

“Trump’s filing is thus nothing more than his latest effort to delay accountability for what a jury has already found to be his defamation of E. Jean Carroll. But whether he likes it or not, that accountability is coming very soon,” said Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan.

Carroll sued Trump for defamation and sexual abuse in 2019 after he denied her allegation that he raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s, according to CNN.

Trump said in a Truth Social post that he did not know Carroll and that the suit was “A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!"

Carroll won her civil suit against Trump and was awarded $5 million in damages, though the jury did not find him liable for her alleged rape.