A federal judge will allow E. Jean Carroll to amend her original defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump to include comments he made at a CNN town hall.
Carroll, a former magazine columnist, asked the judge for permission to amend the initial November 2019 lawsuit so she could try to seek additional punitive damages after Trump repeated statements a federal jury found to be defamatory.
The allowance comes as Trump’s legal troubles have mounted in recent days. Also Tuesday, the former president was arraigned at a federal courthouse in Miami and pleaded not guilty to criminal charges related to alleged mishandling of classified documents in a case brought by the Justice Department.
“We look forward to moving ahead expeditiously on E Jean Carroll’s remaining claims,” Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said Tuesday.
Last month, a jury found in favor of Carroll in her second civil lawsuit, which went to trial. The jury found that Trump sexually abused Carroll and defamed her by denying the attack, saying she wasn’t his type and calling her allegations a hoax.
One day later Trump appeared at the CNN Republican presidential town hall and said, “I have no idea who this woman – this is a fake story, made up story.” He called Carroll a “whack job” and went on a tangent about her ex-husband and pet cat.
Trump’s lawyer opposed the amendment and said they wanted to move to dismiss the original lawsuit, which deals with comments Trump made while president and has been held up on appeal.
Carroll has alleged that the former president raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s and then defamed her when he denied her claim.
The judge also set a deadline of next month for the Justice Department to weigh in on whether it still believed that Trump was acting within the scope of his employment when he made the comments in 2019.
The Justice Department under Trump and Biden said that he was, which tied the original lawsuit up on appeal. Following the May jury finding in Carroll’s favor, the Justice Department has asked for more time, suggesting it was reconsidering its position.
This story has been updated with additional details.