George Conway Pleased to Be 'Evidence' in E. Jean Carroll's Trump Lawsuit

Conservative lawyer George Conway said on Saturday that he was pleased to be "evidence" in E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit against former President Donald Trump.

Carroll, a former Elle columnist, sued Trump in 2019 and in 2022 for defaming her by claiming Carroll was lying when she came out with allegations that Trump had raped her in a New York City department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

She was already awarded $5 million for the 2022 lawsuit where a jury found that Trump sexually abused her and was liable for defamation. A federal judge also found Trump liable for defamation in the 2019 lawsuit and a civil trial to figure out the damages he will have to pay is scheduled to begin this month. Trump, meanwhile, has maintained his innocence and denied any wrongdoing.

Conway, who is a vocal Trump critic and who is the estranged husband of Trump's former White House aide and 2016 campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, celebrated the fact that he was admitted into evidence in Trump's upcoming defamation trial.

"SOME PERSONAL NEWS—I am pleased to announce that, once again, I will be admitted into evidence by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. I wish to thank the Court, the litigants, @ejeancarroll and @realDonaldTrump, and their counsel for their confidence in my probative value and pledge I will do my utmost to live up to this honor. Thank you," Conway wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday.

He also shared a court filing in which it states that Trump can bring forth witness testimony that Conway helped Carroll in the process of her bringing the lawsuit against Trump.

"This does not foreclose Mr. Trump from eliciting testimony that the idea of suing Mr. Trump crystallized in Ms. Carroll's mind as a result of a conversation at a party with George Conway, a Republican lawyer who 'does not like Mr. Trump,' and that Mr. Conway then introduced her to a lawyer," the filing stated. The court document also mentions that this testimony was offered by Trump and Carroll in the 2022 lawsuit.

Carroll's team had no comment for Newsweek on Saturday when approached via email. Newsweek also reached out to Trump's campaign spokesperson.

This trial comes as the former president faces 91 felony counts across four criminal cases and while Judge Arthur Engoron decides damages in a civil fraud lawsuit that was filed against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James. In the midst of all this legal trouble, Trump, who maintains his innocence in all cases against him, is the current frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.

In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for battery and defaming Carroll when he said in 2022 that he didn't rape her, he didn't know her, and that she wasn't his "type." While the jury was able to find a preponderance of evidence that Trump sexually abused Carroll, they did not find enough evidence to conclude that he raped her.

Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled in September 2023 that the jury's verdict was enough to find Trump liable for defamation for statements he made about the allegations in 2019.

"The truth or falsity of Mr. Trump's 2019 statements therefore depends – like the truth or falsity of his 2022 statement – on whether Ms. Carroll lied about Mr. Trump sexually assaulting her," the judge ruled. "The jury's finding that she did not therefore is binding in this case and precludes Mr. Trump from contesting the falsity of his 2019 statements."

Carroll's 2019 lawsuit was amended to include comments Trump made at a CNN town hall in May 2023. "This woman, I don't know her. I've never met her. I have no idea who she is," Trump said of Carroll in the wake of the jury's verdict in the 2022 lawsuit against him.

Carroll is seeking over $10 million in damages in her 2019 lawsuit. Meanwhile, Kaplan rejected Trump's argument that any future damages should be capped.

Update 1/13/24, 1:34 p.m. ET: This article was updated with a response from Carroll's team.