Comment Author and columnist E. Jean Carroll is suing former President Donald Trump for alleged sexual assault in the 1990s, under a New York law that allows sexual assault victims to file lawsuits years later. Carroll’s attorneys filed the lawsuit Thursday, minutes after the Adult Survivors Act went into effect. The law, which was signed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in late May, gives adult survivors of sexual assault up to a year to file a lawsuit, regardless of when the alleged violation occurred. Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, says Trump raped her in a dressing room at an upscale Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s — an allegation Trump has denied. The court filing Thursday said Carroll filed the lawsuit to “obtain redress for her injuries and to demonstrate that even a man as powerful as Trump can be held accountable under the law.” She is suing Trump for defamation and seeking damages and punitive damages, saying the alleged sexual assault caused her “significant pain and suffering, lasting psychological harm, loss of dignity and invasion of her privacy.” The lawsuit was expected. Carroll said in court filings filed in September as part of her ongoing, separate defamation case against Trump that she would file a lawsuit against the former president under the Adult Survivors Act “as soon as this statute authorizes us to do so.” Carroll first recounted the alleged assault in a book in 2019. She was unable to press charges at the time because the statute of limitations had passed. Speaking to reporters on June 22, 2019, then-President Trump denied claims by magazine writer E. Jean Carroll, who says Trump assaulted her in 1995 or early 1996. (Video: The Washington Post) Trump, who has been accused of sexual assault by several other women, responded to the allegations by saying Carroll was “absolutely lying” and that the reporter was “not my type.” Carroll subsequently sued Trump for defamation. After Weinstein’s fall, Trump’s accusers are asking: Why not him? In court documents filed Thursday, Carroll alleges that Trump “pushed her against the wall of the dressing room, pinned her in place with his shoulder and raped her.” The lawsuit notes that, out of fear, Carroll had remained silent about the incident for more than 20 years before deciding it was time to speak out after the #MeToo movement prompted sexual assault survivors around the world to share their stories. In a statement about the new lawsuit, Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said the author “intends to hold Donald Trump responsible not only for defaming her, but also for sexually assaulting her, which he committed years ago in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman. “ “Thanksgiving was the first day that Ms. Carroll could file under New York law, so our complaint was filed in court shortly after midnight.” Trump says latest accuser, E. Gene Carroll, is ‘lying’ and ‘not my type’ Trump’s lawyer, Alina Haba, denied the allegations on Thursday. “While I respect and admire the individuals who are coming forward, this case is an unfortunate abuse of the purpose of this law that sets a terrible precedent and risks delegitimizing the credibility of real victims,” Habba told The Associated Press. Carroll’s representatives sought to merge the defamation suit with Thursday’s new Adult Survivors Act lawsuit, though Trump’s legal team argued that the move would be prejudicial. The Adult Survivors Act builds on New York’s Child Victims Act, which was signed into law in 2019 and offered a similar opportunity for survivors of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits against their alleged abusers. An avalanche of lawsuits is expected to be filed under the new law, which they argue offers survivors a chance to hold their attackers accountable — even if a significant amount of time has passed since the alleged incident. Shayna Jacobs contributed to this report.
