Judge dismisses Trump's defamation claim against E. Jean Carroll
By Jonathan Stempel
August 7, 20232:12 PM EDTUpdated 7 hours ago

NEW YORK, Aug 7 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday dismissed Donald
Trump's defamation counterclaim against the writer E. Jean Carroll,
handing a fresh legal defeat to the former president as he seeks another
White House term.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said Carroll's statements,
made on CNN the day after she won a $5 million jury verdict against Trump
for defamation and sexual abuse, were at least "substantially true," and
Trump failed to show she made them with actual malice.
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Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump, said "We strongly disagree with the
flawed decision and will be filing an appeal shortly."

Trump, 77, filed his counterclaim in a second defamation lawsuit by
Carroll, 79, who is seeking at least $10 million.

A trial is scheduled for Jan. 15, 2024.

Trump is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential
nomination.

He has also pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in three separate
indictments, including over his effort to reverse his 2020 election loss
and his role in events leading to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S.
Capitol.

Trump sued Carroll after the former Elle magazine columnist said "oh yes,
he did; oh yes, he did" when asked on CNN about the jury's finding that
he had not raped her.

He also objected to Carroll recounting how she had told his lawyer "he
did it and you know it" soon after the verdict was read.

Kaplan had previously found convincing proof that Trump "deliberately and
forcibly" penetrated Carroll's vagina with his fingers, causing immediate
pain and long-lasting emotional and psychological harm.
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The verdict reflected that "Mr. Trump 'raped' her, albeit digitally
rather than with his penis," Kaplan wrote on Monday. "Thus, it
establishes against him the substantial truth of Ms. Carroll's 'rape'
accusations."

Kaplan also struck some of Trump's affirmative defenses, including that
he had "absolute presidential immunity" and that Carroll was ineligible
for punitive damages.

Roberta Kaplan, who represents Carroll and is not related to the judge,
said she was pleased with Monday's decision, which means the January
trial "shouldn't take very long to complete."

Both lawsuits stemmed from Trump's denials that he forced himself upon
and raped Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in
Manhattan in the mid-1990s.

Carroll is suing over Trump's comments in June 2019 that he had not known
her, that she was not his "type," and that she lied to boost sales of her
memoir.

The $5 million verdict stemmed from a similar denial in an October 2022
social media post, where Trump branded the incident a "Hoax and a lie"
and a "complete Scam."

Carroll amended her lawsuit after Trump disparaged her as a "whack job"
in a CNN town hall following the verdict.

The lawsuit is Carroll v. Trump, U.S. District Court, Southern District
of New York, No. 20-07311.