U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in a Monday order dismissed former President Donald Trump's attempt to countersue writer E. Jean Carroll, after a jury found him liable of sexually abusing and defaming her in May. Trump attempted to bring a defamation suit against Carroll after she said, "Oh, yes he did," in response to a question about the jury's verdict finding that he sexually abused but did not rape her.
"Indeed, the jury's verdict in Carroll II establishes, as against Mr Trump, the fact that Mr Trump 'raped her', albeit digitally rather than with his penis. Thus, it establishes against him the substantial truth of Ms. Carroll's 'rape' accusations," Judge Kaplan wrote in the dismissal. "In consequence, there is no merit to Mr. Trump's argument that the jury's finding on Penal Law 'rape' question established that Ms. Carroll's statements were false even if her statements reasonably could be construed as referring to 'rape' in that specialized Penal Law sense, a subject on which this Court now expresses no view."
Trump is slated to go to trial in January for a separate defamation suit Carroll raised against him in 2019, amid his campaign for the 2024 presidency and three other criminal indictments. "We are pleased that the Court dismissed Donald Trump's counterclaim," said Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's lawyer. "That means that the January 15th jury trial will be limited to a narrow set of issues and shouldn't take very long to complete. E. Jean Carroll looks forward to obtaining additional compensatory and punitive damages based on the original defamatory statements Donald Trump made in 2019."
