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By Ewan Palmer
News Reporter
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There have been suggestions that Donald Trump could have opened himself up to another defamation lawsuit after he attacked writer E. Jean Carroll during an interview.
Speaking on the telephone to conservative news network Newsmax, the former president claimed he had "never met" the woman who successfully sued him for sexual battery and defamation, while claiming Carroll's assault story is "fictional."
In May 2023, a New York jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll at a Bergdorf Goodman store in the 1990s, and then defaming her character by denying the incident took place, and ordered the former president to pay her $5 million in damages.
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Carroll also successfully sued Trump for defamation after he repeatedly attacked her, including claiming she made up the assault to sell copies of her book. On January 26, a separate New York jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in compensatory damages and punitive retribution following a civil trial.
Trump has now once again claimed the assault against Carroll never occurred, while also lashing out at the recent civil and criminal cases he has lost in New York, including being found guilty by a jury of 34 felony charges of falsifying business records following the historic hush money trial.
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"This is a terrible thing that's happening. Giving a woman that I have no idea...no idea, other than the fact that she had a picture taken many, many years ago, I've never met this woman," Trump said.
"I don't know this woman and I'm supposed to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a fictional story."
Trump and Carroll's legal teams have been contacted for comment via email.
In May, Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan said "all options are on the table" with regards to filing a new suit against Trump as the former president continues to attack her client.
The remark came after Trump claimed in a Truth Social post he had "never met" Carroll aside from a "quick handshake at a celebrity event, 25 years ago, doesn't count!" He then suggested she made up the assault.
"We have said several times since the last jury verdict in January that all options were on the table," Kaplan previously told Newsweek. "And that remains true today—all options are on the table."
A number of social media users have suggested Trump could be at risk of being sued again over his comments about Carroll, while sharing a clip of the former president's Newsmax interview online.
Lawyer Don Lewis posted on X, formerly Twitter: "E. Jean Carroll is going to sue Trump again. And get even more in damages. Book it!"
Animator and former newspaper illustrator Geoff Valent wrote: "And just like that, Trump talked his way into another defamation lawsuit from Carroll."
Reporter Johnathan Ford added: "Donald Trump already found liable of sexual assault against E. Jean Carroll and found liable of defamation. During an Interview defamed E. Jean Carroll again. This after a jury of nine unanimously found him liable."
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