Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media amid his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, U.S., on May 16, 2024.
Angela Weiss | Via Reuters
Donald Trump on Monday again denied rape and defamation claims against him by writer E. Jean Carroll, nabbing the attention of her lawyer.
In a post on Truth Social, the former president kicked off 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 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 last year in which a jury 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 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 Biden campaign also responded to Trump’s post on X and wrote, “Trump posts Memorial Day message with zero mention of fallen American service members, instead calling those who don’t support him “‘Human Scum.'”
Kaplan has previously suggested that another defamation lawsuit could be in store after comments Trump made in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Kaplan said in a statement after the interview aired that, “The statute of limitations for defamation in the most jurisdictions is between one and three years.” Then continued, “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.