Donald Trump Files Countersuit Against Writer E. Jean Carroll, Claiming She Defamed Him on Television

Former President Donald Trump has filed a countersuit against writer E. Jean Carroll, claiming she defamed him on television. The lawsuit follows a New York jury’s decision last month that found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, but not liable for her alleged rape.

The countersuit was filed on Tuesday, a day after Carroll was asked in an interview on CNN how she felt when the jury did not find Trump liable for rape. Carroll responded that she was “immediately disappointed.” Trump’s attorney wrote in the court filing that Carroll defamed Trump by claiming in her interview that Trump raped her.

The jury also found Trump had defamed Carroll by calling her claims a “hoax” and a “con job” during a CNN town hall on the same day as Carroll’s interview. Carroll has made the rape allegation repeatedly over the years, including on the stand during their civil trial this spring.

In response to the countersuit, Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan said in a statement that Trump’s filing “is nothing more than a desperate attempt to continue his pattern of attacking women who report his misconduct and then trying to gaslight the public by denying his own words and actions.”

The countersuit is an update to a defamation lawsuit Carroll filed against Trump in 2019. The case is ongoing and a trial date has yet to be set.