An American journalist, E. Jean Carroll, accusing Donald Trump that he raped her in the 90sThursday, Nov. 24, relaunched its civil suit against the former US president, thanks to a new New York law that protects victims of sexual assault.
A dual court case of alleged rape and defamation pitted E. Jean Carroll, 78, against Donald Trump, 76, in federal civil court in Manhattan since 2019, both filed their sworn statements in October before a New York judge York.
The sequel after the announcement
In the libel proceedings, E. Jean Carroll, author and former columnist for “Elle” magazine, attacked Donald Trump in civil court in November 2019. She accused him of defaming her for calling her a “complete lie”in June 2019, her allegations of rape in a New York department store dressing room in 1995 or 1996.
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The Republican president then in office (2017-2021) replied that he had never met her and that she wasn’t “not his kind of woman”. His lawyers have also always claimed that he was protected in 2019 by his immunity as head of state.
Regarding the rape allegations, E. Jean Carroll was unable to file a formal complaint in 2019 as the alleged facts were time-barred.
However, on November 24, a new law went into effect in the State of New York (“Adult Survivors Act”) which allows victims of sexual assault to reactivate any old complaints and to file a civil lawsuit for one year.
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The law firm of E. Jean Carroll, Kaplan Hecker and Fink and the federal justice in Manhattan then released several court documents Thursday accusing Donald Trump in particular of ” viola “ and asking for a civil trial in 2023 to obtain damages.
In the introduction to the complaint, which is now admissible and which reports all the facts, Donald Trump is accused “About 27 years ago […] in the Bergdorf Goodman luxury department store on Fifth Avenue in New York (of) grabbing E. Jean Carroll, slamming her and pinning her against a dressing room wall with the shoulder and raping her”.
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The complainant had been silent for more than 20 years before telling her story in a book in the late 2010s in favor of the #MeToo movement launched in 2017 against violence against women.
“While I respect and admire people who speak up, this case unfortunately constitutes a deviation from the objective of the law which creates a serious precedent and risks delegitimizing the words of the real victims”, Alina Habba, Donald Trump’s lawyer in the case, reacted to AFP this Thursday.
Last October, the former president called out these allegations “hoax and lie”.
