What To Know About E. Jean Carroll's Explosive Defamation Case Against Donald Trump

Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of sexual assault

If the January 2024 headlines about Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll left you with an uncanny feeling of déja vu, you wouldn't be alone. The former president returned to the courtroom only eight months after a New York federal courtroom found Trump liable of sexually abusing Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defaming her after she went public with her story, which resulted in Carroll being awarded $5 million in damages. But the writer and columnist's legal battle is far from over. 

Trump has continued to deny Carroll's claims, going so far as to say he never met her despite the two being previously photographed together. These claims continued even after the May 2023 ruling that found Trump liable for Carroll's allegations, which caused Carroll to file a separate defamation lawsuit seeking further damages related to Trump's attacks on her reputation and punitive damages to deter future slander. 

"This conduct supports a very substantial punitive damages award in Carroll's favor both to punish Trump, to deter him from engaging in further defamation, and to deter others from doing the same," initial court filings said, per The New York Times. January 16, 2024, marked the first day of the trial that Carroll and her legal team set into motion in late spring 2023.

The public battle between writer and former columnist E. Jean Carroll and former President Donald Trump began in 2019 when Carroll published her account of Trump's physical attack against her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room on New York Magazine's women's lifestyle publication The Cut. Trump immediately denied Carroll's claims, telling The Hill in June 2019: "Number one, she's not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, okay?"

Two days after a courtroom found Trump liable for both the alleged attack and defamation against his accuser, the then-president doubled down on his denial at a CNN Town Hall. He called Carroll a "wack job" and mocked Carroll's allegations as "dressing room hanky-panky," per The New York Times. He continued to defame Carroll in public appearances and on social media, resulting in Carroll's second defamation lawsuit filed that same year. 

In addition to the undisclosed punitive damages, Carroll is seeking a minimum of $10 million for Trump's continued attack on her reputation and character. The back-to-back trials have created a unique set of requirements and rules for the plaintiff and defendant. Caroll is not required to re-prove the validity of her claims of sexual abuse and previous defamation, as Trump has already been found guilty of both. Conversely, Trump cannot deny Carroll's earlier claims in court during this second trial.

Former President Donald Trump is listed as a witness for the defense in E. Jean Carroll's second defamation lawsuit, but Federal Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has outlined certain caveats for his testimony. In a January 9, 2024, opinion, Kaplan barred Trump from denying any of Carroll's claims of sexual abuse or prior defamation, bringing up his accuser's dating history, or questioning Carroll about her legal team. Carroll's lawyers have also suggested Trump be required to affirm under oath that he assaulted Carroll and lied about it, per CBS News.

Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, publicly responded in protest to these requests. "We presume that this is not a kangaroo court of a third-world country where a party to a lawsuit is involuntarily made to say what a court and an opposing party wants them to say," Habba wrote (via ABC News). "Given the Court's prior rulings in this case, President Trump's ability to defend himself at trial is already severely limited. Precluding him from taking the stand altogether would be a manifest injustice and a clear violation of his constitutional rights."

The onset of Carroll's second trial against Trump comes amid the presidential hopeful's rigorous campaigning schedule and memorial services for his late mother-in-law, Amalija Knavs, who died at 78 on January 9, 2024. If Trump's previous courtroom proceedings are any indication, this second lawsuit will be no less fiery and hotly contested than the first.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).