Donald Trump talks about rape as if it was sexual in nature, because the woman he allegedly raped was not his “type.” For him and others like him, rape is actually about rage, power, and control. After accusing him of rape 20 years ago, former New York advice columnist E. Jean Carroll is suing him again.
Her lawsuit was about defamation of character. Carroll claimed that he defamed her by denying her truth and using his presidential powers to suppress the case. He claimed that he was protected from the suit, because he was in office when she filed it.
Her attorney requested the Manhattan Court of Appeals to block a previous judge’s findings, that her suit did not apply to the previous president, because he was in office. And of course, his Department of Justice under Attorney General William Barr backed the then-president.
Carroll released a statement that read as Bloomberg News reported:
‘Trump has tried and failed repeatedly to get my lawsuit booted. I am confident that the Second Circuit will make it clear that no president, including Donald Trump, can get away scot-free with maliciously defaming a woman he sexually assaulted.’
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan said that Trump let loose “vicious, personal attacks” on her client in 2019. She had just told her story publicly at that time. She claimed that the ex-president raped her in a high-end Manhattan department store dressing room in the 90s. Her case claimed that his rude comments about her “don’t qualify as presidential duties under the law:”
‘[Trump] implied that she was too ugly to rape; that she had falsely accused other men of sexual assault; and that she had invented her story for money, or to sell books, or to advance a political plot. None of this was true. [Trump] knew what he was doing when he went on a defamation rampage designed to crush her — to punish and retaliate against her — for daring to reveal his decades-old crime.’
The former president told reporters in 2019:
‘I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened.’
Carroll’s statement continued:
‘Just a week before President Biden’s inauguration, Trump’s private lawyers and the DOJ joined forces to argue on appeal that when Trump called me a liar who was too ugly to rape, he was somehow being presidential. This is offensive to me. It is offensive to sexual assault victims everywhere. I hope that it is offensive to the Justice Department under President Biden.’
Carroll had the wherewithal to save the dress she was wearing with Trump’s DNA on it, according to The New York Times:
‘She had kept the black, wool dress that she was wearing that day. Ms. Carroll announced earlier this year that she had departed from The Elle magazine, saying the magazine fired her after Mr. Trump insulted her reputation. Her contract was terminated early, but Elle says it was not over her allegations against him.’
Mr. Trump has denied Ms. Carroll’s allegations.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
