Trump rape accuser to file new legal action against former president

A writer who accused Donald Trump of raping her more than 25 years ago plans to file a new lawsuit against the former US president.

Mr Trump’s lawyer called the move “extraordinarily prejudicial.”

In a letter made public on Tuesday, a lawyer for E. Jean Carroll said the former Elle magazine columnist plans to sue Mr Trump for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress under New York state’s Adult Survivors Act.

That law, recently signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, gives adult accusers a one-year window to bring civil claims over alleged sexual misconduct regardless of how long ago it occurred.

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Ms Carroll has accused Mr Trump of raping her in late 1995 or early 1996 in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Midtown Manhattan.

Mr Trump has denied raping Ms Carroll and accused her of concocting the rape claim to sell her book.

Ms Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said her client plans to sue Mr Trump on November 24th when the state law takes effect, and that the claims and Ms Carroll’s existing defamation case against Trump could be tried together in February 2023.

In a letter responding to Ms Kaplan, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said Mr Trump “adamantly” objected to combining both cases, after both sides finished gathering evidence for trial, and that it was “extraordinarily prejudicial” to add the new claims.

“To permit plaintiff to drastically alter the scope and subject matter of this case at such time would severely prejudice defendant’s rights,” Ms Habba wrote. “Plaintiff’s request must be disregarded in its entirety.”

Ms Kaplan also said she now wants Mr Trump to testify under oath at a deposition, to better understand his “theory of the case”, despite her saying in February that a deposition would not be needed.

“To be clear, the deposition of defendant need not take very long,” Ms Kaplan said.

Ms Kaplan’s letter is dated August 8th and Ms Habba’s is dated August 11th. They were made public on Tuesday afternoon. US district judge Lewis Kaplan oversees the case.

Mr Trump faces an array of litigation and investigations, including into his efforts to undo the 2020 US presidential election and refusal to turn over various documents.

In August, the former president invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination more than 400 times during a deposition by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is conducting a civil inquiry into his namesake Trump Organization’s business practices.

Mr Trump and Ms Carroll are still awaiting a decision by the federal appeals court in Manhattan over whether Ms Carroll’s defamation case can proceed at all.

Ms Carroll sued in November 2019 after Trump, then in his third year in the White House, told a reporter that Ms Carroll made up the rape claim and that he did not know her and “she’s not my type”.

Mr Trump has argued that he was shielded from the lawsuit by a federal law that provides immunity to government employees from defamation claims.

Both sides argued their appeals last December 3rd.

Ms Carroll’s lawyers have said they want to obtain a DNA sample from Mr Trump to compare against a dress Ms Carroll claimed to have worn during the alleged rape. — Reuters