A woman with a powerful voice through her many years as an advice columnist for The Elle Magazine accused Donald Trump of sexual assault and rape. She claimed he raped her in an upscale women’s department store located in New York, New York.
This week E. Jean Carroll filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump in the New York Supreme Court, surrounding her allegation that he raped her in the mid-1990s.
She filed a defamation lawsuit and requested an “unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.” Carroll recollected the event when the then-real estate developer ran into her. The year was 1995 or early 1996. The two visited and shopped for a while. Then, Trump knocked her head against a wall of a dressing room stall and pulled down her tights. He penetrated her briefly. Then she was able to shove him off and ran out of the store.
The 75-year-old woman’s story rings true. Plus, she told two of her close friends about the incident at the time. They agreed with her public accounting of the story included in her recent book. Carroll decided to not tell anyone else anything about the sexual assault, because Trump could destroy her reputation.
Carroll released a statement about including her book’s excerpt. She spoke about her lawsuit, according to The Washington Post:
‘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. No person in this country should be above the law – including the president.’
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham labeled Ms. Carroll’s lawsuit “frivolous” and called the woman “a fraud:”
‘Let me get this straight – Ms. Carroll is suing the President for defending himself against false allegations?” 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. Her version of events is not even feasible if you’ve ever tried on clothing in a dressing room of a crowded department store. The lawsuit is frivolous and the story is a fraud – just like the author.’
The plaintiff, in this case, thought about coming forward with her story prior to the 2016 election. However, the #metoo movement that followed was what finally made her decide to tell all. The memories of Trump’s attack still felt fresh after all these years, so she felt as if she had to do this to help the other victims of sexually assault or harassment.
Trump quickly denounced Carroll after she told her story in June to media outlets, including The Washington Post. Her book entitled What Do We Need Men For had been excerpted in The New York Magazine last June.
The president pounced on Carroll’s lawsuit. He claimed she was trying to “sell a book:”
‘Shame on those who make up false stories of assault to try to get publicity for themselves, or sell a book, or carry out a political agenda. It is a disgrace and people should pay dearly for such false accusations.’
In fact, POTUS claimed he had “never met this person in my life.” However, her recently-released book included a photo of Trump and Carroll together at an NBC party in approximately 1987.
Trump noted that the standard set for defamation regarding public figures showed “malice” on the part of the individual who knowingly and recklessly disregarding the truth. Indeed, the president accused Carroll of “totally lying” and “not my type.”
Attorney for Carroll, Roberta Kaplan, did a recent interview about the victim:
‘I don’t know what type a woman needs to be for him to decide to sexually assault someone, but that kind of gratuitous insult about her appearance is the kind of thing that juries and judges look to “It looks like malice.”
Carroll registered as a Democrat, but she claimed that her decision to move forward with her alleged assault did not have anything to do with politics.
Twitter world lit up. Take a look at some of our favorites below:
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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