The former president of the United States has a pile of lawsuits piling up after journalist Elizabeth Jean Carroll sued him Thursday for assault for an incident in the 1990s that took place in the fitting rooms of a New York store in which, according to the complainant, the tycoon sexually abused her.
It is not the first lawsuit that Carroll has filed against Trump, since there is already one pending since 2019 in a Manhattan court accusing him of defamation, after the former president not only denied the facts of the alleged sexual assault, but also tried to ridicule her.
For this defamation lawsuit Trump already declared in October asserting that it is nothing more than «a witch hunt» against him, as well as a publicity strategy of Carroll to sell more copies of his book ‘Why do we need men?’, in which he recounts that episode.
Carroll has filed this Thursday the complaint for assault on the same day that a law is put into effect in New York that leaves without effect the statute of limitations of one year to denounce this type of sexual crimes.
The lawsuit includes a new one for defamation after Trump insisted last month after giving sworn testimony on social networks that Carroll «is not telling the truth» and that the alleged sexual assault never happened because «this woman is not my type.»
However, Carroll’s complaint alleges that about 27 years ago some banter between her and Trump about trying on lingerie when they coincided in an upscale department store on New York’s Fifth Avenue «took a dark turn» when he «forced her against the fitting room wall, pinned her down and raped her.»
Trump has managed to delay the defamation suit on several occasions thanks to his time in the White House, as he argued that the president of the United States cannot be sued in the performance of his duties if the facts have to do with his office. In September, a federal appeals court ruled partially in his favor, finding that he was under legal protection.
However, that same court asked its higher court, the District of Columbia court, to decide whether those comments were protected. Now, Carroll’s new lawsuit is based on similar statements made a month ago on his social networks, so he would not be able to take advantage of this legal protection since he is no longer president of the United States.
This new complaint adds to the long list of legal problems Trump is facing as he tries to reach the White House again. Ahead he has an investigation on the misuse of confidential documents, another on pressure in the state of Georgia to find evidence to support his theories of electoral rigging, tax fraud in the Trump Organization, the case on his responsibility in the January 6 insurrection in the Capitol.
