E. Jean Carroll filed court documents on Monday seeking “very substantial” monetary damages from Donald Trump for making scathing remarks about her in a CNN town hall, a day after the former president filed a $5 million lawsuit against her lost the writer.
In light of what he said on CNN on May 10, Carroll is now seeking no less than $10 million in damages from Trump in her original lawsuit.
Her move came as her attorneys asked a Manhattan federal court judge for permission to amend her first defamation lawsuit, which she filed against Trump in 2019, to reflect his recent statements about her on CNN, which they say are also defamatory.
“Trump’s post-verdict defamatory statements demonstrate the extent of his malevolence toward Carroll, as it is difficult to imagine defamatory conduct that could possibly be more strongly motivated by hatred, malevolence or malice,” the proposed amended complaint reads.
“This conduct supports a very substantial payment of damages in favor of Carroll to punish Trump, deter him from further defamation, and deter others from doing the same,” the complaint reads.
Carroll’s second lawsuit, filed in late 2022, alleging rape and defamation, ended with a jury in that court, after less than three hours of deliberation, finding Trump guilty of sexual abuse and defamation when he dismissed her allegations last fall .
Trump’s attorney Joseph Tacopina, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, appealed that ruling.
Carroll said Trump, 76, raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s.
He denies sexually abusing her, but has made a number of comments over the years accusing her of fabricating the claim.
Carroll’s new proposed amended complaint states that during his CNN roundhouse interview, Trump “falsely stated that he did not sexually assault Carroll, that he had no idea who Carroll was, and that Carroll’s now-proven allegation was ‘false’ and ‘ was wrong.’ up story’, created by a ‘whack job’. “
“Trump also insulted Carroll’s character and downplayed his sexual abuse by asking, ‘What kind of woman meets someone?’ and then playing ‘hanky-panky’ in a locker room ‘within minutes,'” the amended complaint reads .
The filing said about 3.3 million people watched the CNN show and heard the studio audience “applaud Trump’s comments and laugh out loud.”
The filing cites several Twitter posts that reflected Trump’s “many lies and demeaning remarks” about Carroll.
“These and other similar messages are exactly what Trump intended,” the amended complaint reads.
“Trump used a nationwide platform to humiliate and taunt Carroll. He provoked a laughing audience by downplaying his violent sexual assault, berating Carroll, implying that Carroll asked to be assaulted, and overturning the jury verdict that justified Carroll.”
If Judge Lewis allows Kaplan Carroll to amend her pending lawsuit, it would be the latest in a series of statements by Trump that it increases his civil liability.
Carroll, 79, went public with her allegations against Trump in a June 2019 New York Magazine article when he was still president.
She filed her first lawsuit against him in New York state court in November 2019, alleging that he defamed her by claiming she was lying and that following her allegations, she pursued a political agenda and desire to sell to stimulate a book.
The first lawsuit was escalated to federal court in Manhattan as the Justice Department attempted to replace Trump as a defendant on the grounds that he was serving as president at the time of his statements.
Judge Kaplan declined to let the Justice Department stand in for Trump, but appeals against his decision have prevented the lawsuit from going to court.
Carroll filed a second lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan last year, taking advantage of a new New York state law that allows prosecutors in sexual assault or misconduct cases to file complaints within a year when otherwise permitted by civil law excluded from New York would be restrictions.
The second complaint also alleged defamation. She cited statements by Trump last fall in which he repeated his claim that she faked a rape, called her allegations “a complete hoax,” and said Carroll wasn’t his “type.”
Trump is targeting the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. He has been accused of sexual misconduct by at least two dozen women, including his late wife Ivana Trump, who said he raped her during their late 1980s divorces. Ivana Trump later retracted this claim.
Two women who said Trump groped them against their will recently testified at his civil trial over Carroll’s lawsuit.
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