E. Jean Carroll adds Trump’s CNN town hall remarks to defamation suit

E. Jean Carroll amended her ongoing defamation lawsuit against former President Trump on Monday to include his recent comments during a CNN town hall.

In an exchange that came one day after a jury ordered Trump to pay $5 million in civil damages for sexual battery and defamation in Carroll’s other lawsuit, the former president during his CNN appearance again denied assaulting her.

“And I didn’t do anything else either. You know what? Because I have no idea who the hell she is. I don’t know who this woman is,” Trump told moderator Kaitlan Collins.

“I have no idea who the hell she is. She’s a whack job,” he later added.

The nine-member jury found Trump more likely than not assaulted Carroll, a longtime advice columnist, in the mid-1990s at a New York City department store and later defamed her by denying her claims.

Carroll’s first lawsuit against Trump, which has not yet reached trial, solely included claims of defamation.

It originally revolved around Trump’s initial denials when Carroll came forward publicly in 2019, citing a written statement given to reporters, comments Trump made on the South Lawn and an interview he gave The Hill at the White House three days after the allegation was first published.

But the case has been wrapped up in questions over whether Trump was protected in making those statements because he was serving as president at the time. On Monday, Carroll’s attorneys updated the complaint to note the recent verdict and Trump’s town hall comments.

“Ms. Carroll’s eleventh hour attempt to amend her complaint exposes the true motivation behind her numerous lawsuits,” Alina Habba, an attorney for Trump, said in a statement.

Carroll further updated her complaint to ask for at least $10 million in damages from Trump, after previously asking for an unspecified amount.

“The proposed amendment accounts for the verdict in Carroll II and Trump’s public response to that verdict, a response that we believe is directly relevant to the issue of punitive damages. But the nature of Carroll’s claim for defamation against Trump based on his 2019 statements remains the same,” Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, wrote to the judge in a separate letter.

Following Trump’s comments during the CNN town hall, Kaplan told The New York Times that Carroll was considering suing over those comments. 

Trump has also appealed the jury’s verdict in Carroll’s other lawsuit.