Journalist who accused Trump of raping her in the 90s restarts case in the US

A journalist who claimed that Donald Trump raped her in the 1990s filed an updated lawsuit Thursday, citing a new law protecting victims of sexual harassment decades later.

E. Jean Carroll’s lawyers acted minutes after the New York state law went into effect.

Carroll, 78, filed a federal civil lawsuit for defamation against Trump in November 2019, and that lawsuit is pending. Both parties testified before a judge in October.

A new lawsuit filed by Carroll, a former columnist and columnist for Elle magazine, accuses Trump of assaulting and defamation when he “forced rape and groped her” in a post on the Truth Social network last month in which he denied the allegations. .

The plaintiff seeks compensation for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages due to psychological harm, pain and suffering, loss of reputation and damage to his reputation.

The previous case is expected to be heard in early 2023. The judge may decide to include new claims.

Carroll made her first claim in a 2019 book, alleging that the former US president raped her in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store in New York, in late 1995 or early 1996.

But until New York’s Adult Survivors Act went into effect on Thursday, she was unable to file an assault suit because of the date it was due to happen.

Trump said he didn’t know Carroll and that he was “not his type”, saying it was “a complete lie”.

Alina Habba, the attorney for the republican businessman in the case, said she respects and admires those who use the new law, but said this case, unfortunately, was an abuse of the measure’s intent.

“It sets a dire precedent that risks delegitimizing the credibility of real victims,” ​​Habba said in an email to AFP.

In his updated complaint, the journalist reiterated that he had remained silent for over 20 years for fear of reprisals, but changed his mind after the #MeToo movement emerged in 2017.