Government

Trump Lawyers Struggle To Keep Up With Client's Constant Defamations Of E. Jean Carroll

Shutting up is free. Defamation will cost ya.

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(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

On May 9, a jury in the Southern District of New York found Donald Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation of advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. The very next day he repeated the same allegations during a televised town hall with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, sparking speculation that he had opened himself up to another defamation suit.

In fact, Carroll didn’t need to file another suit, thanks to the serpentine history of her claims and the vagaries of New York law, as well as Donald Trump’s big mouth.

Carroll filed her first action against Trump in 2019, while he was still president. When he was ordered to comply with discovery, Attorney General Bill Barr swooped in to save Trump’s bacon by removing the case to federal court under the Westfall Act.

In October of 2022, Trump repeated the allegations on his Truth Social platform again, giving rise to a second defamation claim. Additionally, New York enacted its Adult Survivors Act to allow sexual assault victims to file civil suits which would otherwise be time barred. Carroll filed a second suit under the ASA and adding a new defamation claim for the 2022 statements, resulting in the jury verdict less than two weeks ago.

In the meantime, the original 2019 case traveled to the Second Circuit and the DC Court of Appeals for a year of rumination as to whether Trump was acting within the scope of his official duties when he said Carroll was participating in a hoax and was too unattractive to sexually assault. Having determined that this is likely a question of fact for the jury under DC law, the DC and Second Circuit Courts kicked the case back to Judge Lewis Kaplan for hearing. And so Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan now proposes to amend that original complaint in light of both the new Trump statement and the jury’s finding that Trump’s allegations are defamatory because he did, in fact, sexually assault her.

“On their face, the defamatory statements at issue in Carroll I and Carroll II are materially identical. Moreover, the core question underlying the defamation claim in both actions is ‘whether Mr. Trump sexually assaulted Ms. Carroll,’” the plaintiff’s lawyer wrote in a letter to the court regarding scheduling the remaining case. “As a result, the preclusive effect of the Carroll II jury verdict leaves nothing to resolve with respect to the merits of the Carroll I defamation claim, beyond the amount of Carroll’s damages. Resolution of the Westfall Act and summary judgment issues will therefore either terminate this case or permit a streamlined disposition of the few remaining factual issues.”

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Carroll also filed an amended complaint referencing the comments on CNN, which prompted a further wave of harassment directed at Carroll:

Trump’s defamatory statements post-verdict show the depth of his malice toward Carroll since it is hard to imagine defamatory conduct that could possibly be more motivated by hatred, ill will, or spite. This conduct supports a very substantial punitive damages award in Carroll’s favor both to punish Trump, to deter him from engaging in further defamation, and to deter others from doing the same.

Previously Trump’s counsel argued that Trump’s October 2022 statements were merely commenting on the 2019 case, or, in the alternative, were protected by protections usually reserved for journalists reporting on public proceedings. This failed to persuade the court to dismiss the second defamation case which has now resulted in the $5 million verdict. But maximally pissing off Judge Kaplan seems to be the life mission of Trump’s counsel, so look for this one to get trotted out again.

But before Trump’s lawyers even had time to respond to Carroll’s motion to amend, their client was at it again.

I don’t know E. Jean Carroll, I never met her or touched her (except on a celebrity line with her African American husband who she disgustingly called the “Ape,”), I wouldn’t want to know or touch her, I never abused her or raped her or took her to a dressing room 25 years ago in a crowded department store where the doors are LOCKED, she has no idea when, or did anything else to her, except deny her Fake, Made Up Story, that she wrote in a book. IT NEVER HAPPENED, IS A TOTAL SCAM, UNFAIR TRIAL!

Trump Truth Social May 23

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It should be noted that Trump vomited these posts into the ether in the morning before a remote appearance in New York before Justice Juan Merchan on the topic of not disseminating sensitive evidence in Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s criminal case online.

Is Trump under the impression that he gets some kind of bulk defamation discount where he buys three and gets the fourth one for free? Does he think the $5 million bought him the right to defame Carroll at will for all eternity?

Client control, FTW.

Carroll v. Trump I [Docket via Court Listener]
Carroll v. Trump II [Docket via Court Listener]

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics and appears on the Opening Arguments podcast.

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