After accusing Donald Trump of sexual assault in her memoir, What Do We Need Men For?, advice columnist E. Jean Carroll is suing Donald Trump for defamation.
Per the Washington Post, the lawsuit is related to statements he made this summer after she accused him of sexually assaulting her two decades ago in a New York department store, details of which were featured in an excerpt from her book in New York magazine’s The Cut in June.
“I am filing this on behalf of every woman who has ever been harassed, assaulted, silenced, or spoken up only to be shamed, fired, ridiculed and belittled,” Carroll said in a statement. “No person in this country should be above the law—including the president.”
The Washington Post explains the details of their alleged encounter as such:
E. Jean Carroll publicly described the alleged assault for the first time in June, in a published excerpt of a memoir. At that time and in the new lawsuit, she said that after running into the then-real estate developer at Bergdorf Goodman in late 1995 or early 1996, they chatted and shopped together before he attacked her in a dressing room. She said he knocked her head against a wall, pulled down her tights and briefly penetrated her before she pushed him off and ran out.
Carroll is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
For his part, Trump has denied any wrongdoing while White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham has dismissed Carroll as “a fraud” and the lawsuit as “frivolous.”
“Let me get this straight–Ms. Carroll is suing the President for defending himself against false allegations?” she asked. “I guess since the book did not make any money she’s trying to get paid another way. The story she used to try and sell her trash book never happened, period.”
Trump, of course, is no stranger to legal drama. He’s currently embroiled in an impeachment inquiry that could potentially spell his doom and has been bombarded with all types of lawsuits pertaining to both his business and personal affairs.
But Carroll isn’t backing down and has had two friends publicly confirm her account of what transpired.
