Donald Trump has accused E. Jean Carroll, claiming she defamed him on television

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Former President Donald Trump slammed writer E. Jean Carroll on Tuesday, claiming in a court filing that Carroll defamed him on television.

Last month, a New York jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll at a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, but did not find him liable for her alleged rape. Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages for his battery and defamation.

The jury also found that Trump defamed Carroll by calling her claims a fraud and a con job.

On May 10, the day after the decision, Carroll was asked in an interview with CNN how he felt when the jury did not find Trump guilty of rape, Carroll replied: Well, I just immediately (told) my own head, Oh, Yes he did. Oh yes, he did.

In his countersuit, Trump claimed that the statements made by Carroll were defamatory and contrary to the jury’s verdict in which he was found not responsible for rape.

E. Jean Carroll in Manhattan federal court, in New York City, on April 26, 2023.Luiz C. Ribeiro/Tribune News Service via Getty Images file

He made these statements “with actual malice and ill will with intent to injure and attack” his reputation, according to the former president’s lawsuit.

He is seeking recusal of his claims and unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, as well as reimbursements for legal fees “and any further relief” the court deems necessary.

A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Carroll’s attorney, Robbie Kaplan, said in a statement that Trump’s claim is “nothing more than his latest effort to deflect responsibility for what a jury found to be his defamation of E Jean Carroll,” and most of the former president’s statements in his counterclaim “were made outside New York’s one-year statute of limitations.”

Kaplan added, “But whether he likes it or not, accountability will come soon enough.”

The former president denied Carroll’s sexual assault allegation and maintained that he was not being defamed because he was telling the truth. He also insisted that he had never met Carroll, and said he was “not my type.”

In closing arguments, her lawyers said that Carroll is exactly Trump’s type, and that the former president did not show up at his civil trial accusing her of rape because he knew what he had done to her.

Michael Mitsanas

Michael Mitsanas is a political reporting intern for NBC News.

Adam Reiss and Dareh Gregorian contributed.

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