A Manhattan judge is allowing accuser E. Jean Carroll to add Donald Trump’s CNN town hall comments to her 2019 defamation case to bolster her argument for more damages.
Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan Tuesday granted the “Ask E Jean” advice columnist’s bid to change her 2019 lawsuit against the former president so she could seek $10 million in damages and add allegedly defamatory comments he made following her win in a separate sexual abuse lawsuit.
Carroll, 79, won $5 million in damages from a jury on May 9 after it found that the 45th president was liable for sexually abusing her in a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room in the 1990s and then defaming her in October 2022.
Following the verdict, Trump, 76, went on the town hall calling Carroll “a whack job” and her case “a rigged deal,” – which she said should be added to an ongoing defamation case to help her seek punitive damages.
Carroll, center, walks out of Manhattan federal court on May 9, 2023. AP/ John minchillo“Mere minutes after the verdict became public, Trump repeated the defamatory lie that he had no idea who Carroll was and again claimed that her accusation of sexual assault was politically motivated,” Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan wrote in papers filed on May 22 in the open Manhattan federal court civil case.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba argued against the changes claiming it would “severely and unduly prejudice” her client.
In a brief decision, Judge Kaplan said Carroll’s amended complaint “is deemed served and filed today.”
A Manhattan jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $2 million for battery and $3 million for defamation. AP/ Charlie Neibergall“We look forward to moving ahead expeditiously on E. Jean Carroll’s remaining claims,” Roberta Kaplan said in a statement Tuesday.
Habba apparently disagreed with the judge’s decision, saying in a statement from Tuesday: “We maintain that she should not be permitted to retroactively change her legal theory, at the eleventh hour, to avoid the consequences of an adverse finding against her.”
Carroll’s 2019 case brought claims against Trump for saying he didn’t know Carroll after she went public with her accusations against him in June 2019.
In the more recent case she won, the jury found Trump liable for defaming Carroll in a lengthy October 2022 Truth Social post calling her case a “hoax.”
Trump has filed a notice of appeal to overturn the jury verdict.
An embattled Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to a federal indictment charging him with keeping classified documents related to national security at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office.
He also faces criminal charges in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s “hush money” case and a civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James related to business dealings.
