On Tuesday, The Daily Beast reported that columnist E. Jean Carroll is moving to sue former President Donald Trump under a new sexual violence survivor law, accusing him of sexual battery.
The lawsuit stems from an incident in the late 1990s, during which Carroll alleges that the future president raped her in a department store — and is an escalation of the litigation she is already advancing against him.
"In an August letter to a New York federal judge that was just made public Tuesday, Carroll’s lawyer notified the court that severe legal action was on the horizon," reported Jose Pagliery. "The issue was brought up in court filings related to Carroll’s current lawsuit against the former president. She sued Trump while he was still at the White House, claiming she was defamed when Trump said the journalist’s revelations in her memoir were lies, adding a piggish line about how 'she's not my type.'"
As the report noted, Carroll already has a defamation suit against Trump for attacking her character with the claim she lied about the incident. However, this would be the first time Carroll actually sued the former president over the alleged rape itself.
"Roberta A. Kaplan, the journalist’s lawyer, explained in her letter to the judge that Carroll is now preparing to file a separate lawsuit under New York’s Adult Survivors Act 'on the earliest possible date,' which is Nov. 24," said the report. "Kaplan also explained that Trump—as he has done in nearly every court case of late—is refusing to turn over court-mandated evidence. Trump 'remains unwilling to produce any documents in discovery,' not 'a single document,' Kaplan wrote. That's why, she said, Trump should be dragged into a room for a deposition that will question him under oath — an embarrassing exercise that could elicit damning information from the former president. And given that it's a civil case, any question Trump refuses to answer can be interpreted in the worst light possible — even as an admission."
This comes as Trump, who has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than two dozen women, faces two separate criminal investigations relating to the plot to overturn the 2020 election and the classified document stash at Mar-a-Lago, as well as potential legal action from New York State relating to the finances of his family business.
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