Donald Trump has raged against the "unconstitutional" lawsuit against him involving E. Jean Carroll, following sexual assault allegations made against Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo.
Trump is facing a damages trial after a New York City jury awarded Carroll, a journalist, $5 million in damages in May, ruling that Trump had sexually assaulted her and was civilly liable for defamation, but rejecting her allegation of rape.
Carroll had repeatedly accused the former president of assaulting her in a New York City department store changing room in the mid-1990s. Despite this ruling, Trump has continued to deny these charges and repeatedly claimed he has no idea who she is.
Carroll's lawyers are seeking another $10 million in compensatory damages and "substantially more" in a defamation lawsuit, after Trump denied the allegations and told a reporter that Carroll was not his "type." Trump also called Carroll's account "fake" and labeled her a "whack job" during a CNN town hall broadcast.
In August, New York Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed an attempt by the Republican to countersue Carroll for defamation for saying he had raped her, with Kaplan ruling her words were "substantially true." In early September, Kaplan ruled that Trump's comments against Carroll were defamatory. The damages trial is now set for January.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit was filed last week by a woman accusing New York Mayor Adams of sexually assaulting her in 1993. He has denied the allegations. Another lawsuit accused the former governor of New York state, Cuomo, of sexual assaulting a former aide, Brittany Commisso. He is facing allegations from a total of 11 women who have claimed he sexually harassed or mistreated them during his time in office. He has denied all of the allegations.
In response, posting on Truth Social on Wednesday, the Republican claimed the defamation trial was "brought and funded by political operatives for purposes of Election Interference" and said suits against Adams and Cuomo were "totally unfair."
He wrote: "I hope that Mayor Eric Adam's, Andrew Cuomo, and all of the others that got sued based on this ridiculous law where someone can be sued decades later, and with no proof, will fight it on being totally unfair and UNCONSTITUTIONAL. I got sued, decades later (she has no idea when her made up event took place!), by a woman - I HAD NO IDEA WHO SHE WAS. It was a made up fairytale that was brought and funded by political operatives for purposes of Election Interference."
Newsweek has contacted representatives for Trump by email to comment on this story.
The lawsuits against Adams and Cuomo were filed under the Adult Survivors Act. Passed in 2022 by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, it temporarily expanded the 20-year statute of limitations by a year for people filing sexual assault complaints in New York. It expired last Friday.
Meanwhile, Trump is also facing 91 charges across four criminal indictments. He is also subject to a civil fraud trial, in which it is to be decided how much in damages the Trump Organization must pay for inflating the value of its assets to secure more favorable business deals. Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in all of these cases.
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Kate Plummer is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. politics and national affairs, and ... Read more
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