(NewsNation) — The defamation trial between journalist E. Jean Carroll and former President Donald Trump is underway. Carroll accused the former president of raping her 27 years ago in a New York department store.
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle Magazine, didn’t publicly disclose the allegations for decades out of fear that doing so would cause more trouble, according to a civil complaint.
Around the time the #MeToo movement began to gain momentum, however, Carroll published her book “What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal.” In it, she detailed the assault she said took place when she was 52 years old at a Fifth Avenue Bergdorf Goodman store.
Trump denied the accusation in a series of social media posts and public statements, which Carroll now says were defamatory.
Her 29-page civil complaint accuses Trump of defamation and battery and seeks punitive and monetary damages as well as an order that would require the former president to retract an October 2022 statement about Carroll.
It’s unclear how much Trump will be personally involved in the trial, which will take place in a Manhattan federal court.
Why is this case civil, not criminal?
In her complaint, Carroll said she disclosed the situation to two friends but never the police. By the time she published her book, New York’s criminal statute of limitations had expired.
The state extended the statute of limitations in 2019 for certain civil lawsuits stemming from sex crimes. Rather than having five years to file a lawsuit, victims now have 20. The law didn’t apply retroactively, however, so lawmakers passed the Adult Survivors Act, which granted people like Carroll one year to file a civil case even if the statute of limitations had run out.
Carroll filed her suit within 24 hours of the act taking effect.
The allegations
Carroll is accusing Trump of battery and defamation, claiming that he raped her in the ’90s and made defamatory comments about her when the allegations were publicized.
Between the fall of 1995 and the spring of 1996, Carroll says she ran into Trump at the store, where he asked her to help find a gift for another woman. As they were shopping, he asked her to try on lingerie, according to the lawsuit.
The battery claim stems from allegations that Trump raped and groped Carroll in the department store dressing room and “continued to attack and rape Carroll despite her attempts to fight against him.”
Then on Oct. 12, 2022, after Carroll’s book was published, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, calling the case “a complete con job.” He added, “This woman is not my type!” and said, “E. Jean Carroll is not telling the truth, is a woman who I had nothing to do with, didn’t know, and would have no interest in knowing her if I ever had the chance.”
Carroll’s lawyers say the statement damaged the columnist’s reputation and caused emotional and professional harm.
“Trump’s false and defamatory statement was published throughout New York State and around the world on television, in newspapers and magazines, on social media, and elsewhere in print and on the internet,” Carroll’s lawyers wrote in court filings.
It’s one of two defamation suits Carroll filed against Trump.
What does Trump say?
Trump has denied Carroll’s accusations, repeatedly calling them false and “made up.”
“…No pictures? No surveillance? No Video? No Sales attendants around??” Trump wrote in a 2019 statement. “I would like to thank Bergdorf Goodman for confirming that they have no video footage of any such incident, because it never happened.”
Trump’s lawyers argue that the Adult Survivor’s Act that Carroll used to file her lawsuit violates the right to due process (the regular steps and legal proceedings that have to happen before someone can be deprived of certain rights).
They also say Trump’s statements about Carroll after the allegations surfaced weren’t defamatory.
“The October 21 Statement is, at most, a general reflection upon (Carroll’s) character or qualities, as it portrays her as a dishonest individual who ‘made up’ a story about (Trump),” his lawyers wrote in a request seeking to dismiss the lawsuit.