Trump accused of battery in new lawsuit
Writer Carroll already is suing for defamation
NEW YORK – Former President Donald Trump faces an unwelcome Thanksgiving Day entrée - a new lawsuit accusing him of battery in the alleged assault of E. Jean Carroll, a former magazine advice columnist.
The latest legal trouble for Trump comes after he recently announced a 2024 White House run, and after Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped a special counsel to handle investigations involving him.
Carroll, who already is suing Trump for defamation over his denials and comments about her following the assault allegations, will file the new battery lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on Thanksgiving Day, according to a court filing last week.
That’s when New York state’s recently approved Adult Survivors Act opens a one-year window for survivors of sexual assault that occurred when they were past age 18 to sue alleged abusers, no matter when an assault may have occurred.
Until the law’s enactment in May, many similar allegations were barred from being pursued in court by laws that set a maximum time period for suing.
Both cases focus on what Carroll alleges in the new lawsuit was playful banter in a New York City luxury department store roughly 27 years ago that “took a dark turn” when Trump suddenly “forced her up against a dressing room wall, pinned her in place with his shoulder, and raped her.”
Trump has denied Carroll’s allegations, saying in 2019 that the alleged assault “never happened.”
Carroll signaled the lawsuit last weekvia a tweet in which she told Trump: “I will soon see you in court.”
Attorneys representing Carroll included a copy of the proposed lawsuit in a letter filed last week with U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, who’s presiding over the defamation case.
Her lawyers asked Kaplan to delay the scheduled Feb. 6 trial date in the defamation lawsuit and try the two cases together starting on April 10.
The letter noted the proposal is contingent on related appeals court decisions in pending cases about the scope of a U.S. president’s employments.