By Donald Trump on Monday again denied rape and defamation claims against him by writer E. Jean Carroll, getting the attention of her lawyer.
In a post on Truth Social, the former president began with “Happy Memorial Day to All” and quickly derailed into a tirade against Manhattan federal court Judge Lewis Kaplan and Carroll’s claims: “TWO separate trials that awarded a woman, who I never met before (a quick handshake at a celebrity event, 25 years ago, doesn’t count!), 91 MILLION DOLLARS for ‘DEFAMATION.'”
Kaplan presided over the case in which a jury in May 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. Kaplan later ruled in the civil defamation case in January that as president Trump defamed Carroll after she accused him in 2019 of rape. Carroll was awarded $83.3 million in damages, which Trump is appealing.
Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, swiftly responded to Trump’s post. “We have said several times since the last jury verdict in January that all options were on the table. And that remains true today—all options are on the table,” the lawyer said.
The Biden campaign also responded to Trump’s post. “Trump posts Memorial Day message with zero mention of fallen American service members, instead calling those who don’t support him ‘Human Scum,'” the campaign posted on social media platform X.
Roberta Kaplan on March 11 suggested that another defamation lawsuit could be in store after comments Trump made in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“The statute of limitations for defamation in most jurisdictions is between one and three years,” Kaplan said in a statement after the Trump interview aired. “As we said after the last jury verdict, we continue to monitor every statement that Donald Trump makes about our client, E. Jean Carroll.”
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Kaplan’s response to his Memorial Day post.
