Trump’s Rape Accuser to File New Defamation Suit Under Survivors’ Law

E. Jean Carroll, the writer who three years ago accused former President Donald Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room, plans to bring a new civil suit against him, according to a Thursday court filing made by her lawyer. Carroll, a one-time magazine columnist, plans to sue Trump for defamation over a social media post he made last month about her, in which he called her case “a complete con job.” Her suit will be filed next Thursday—not coincidentally, the same day the Adult Survivors Act is set to take effect. The New York law temporarily lifts the statute of limitations on civil claims for adult sexual assault survivors. Carroll’s claims against Trump date back to the mid-1990s, when she alleges he cornered her in a dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman department store. (The former president has repeatedly denied the allegations.) “Trump’s underlying sexual assault severely injured Carroll, causing significant pain and suffering, lasting psychological harms, loss of dignity, and invasion of her privacy,” a copy of the forthcoming complaint reads. “His recent defamatory statement has only added to the harm that Carroll had already suffered.”