Former President Donald Trump is not allowed to countersue and seek financial damages from the writer who accused him of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s, a judge ruled Friday, Bloomberg and CNBC report.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan chalked up the former president's counterclaim against E. Jean Carroll to a "bad faith" attempt at delaying the case and said that, even if Trump could countersue, proving his claims in court would be "futile," CNBC reports.
"The record convinces this court that the defendant's litigation tactics, whatever their intent, have delayed the case to an extent that readily could have been far less," the judge wrote.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Team Trump said it is "disappointed" with the court's decision, but nonetheless looks forward to "proving at trial that the plaintiff's claims have absolutely no basis in law or in fact," Trump's lawyer Alina Habba said in an email.
Carroll sued the ex-president for defamation in November of 2019, after he claimed she was both lying and driven by money when she accused Trump of raping her, per CNBC.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department is working to replace Trump as the defendant in the case, arguing he is protected from the original lawsuit because he was not a private citizen when he made the allegedly defamatory claims, Bloomberg notes. If the DOJ succeeds, the case would be thrown out.
-
Taking the low road: why the SNP is still standing strongTalking Point Party is on track for a fifth consecutive victory in May’s Holyrood election, despite controversies and plummeting support
-
Has the Gaza deal saved Netanyahu?Today's Big Question With elections looming, Israel’s longest serving PM will ‘try to carry out political alchemy, converting the deal into political gold’
-
French finances: what’s behind country’s debt problem?The Explainer Political paralysis has led to higher borrowing costs and blocked urgent deficit-reducing reforms to social protection
-
Has the Gaza deal saved Netanyahu?
Today's Big Question With elections looming, Israel’s longest serving PM will ‘try to carry out political alchemy, converting the deal into political gold’
-
Trump’s deportations are changing how we think about foodIN THE SPOTLIGHT The Department of Labor’s admission that immigration raids have affected America’s food supplies reopens a longstanding debate
-
Trump DOJ indicts New York AG Letitia JamesSpeed Read New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted as Trump’s Justice Department pursues charges against his political opponents
-
Judge blocks Trump’s Guard deployment in ChicagoSpeed Read The president is temporarily blocked from federalizing the Illinois National Guard or deploying any Guard units in the state
-
Gaza peace deal: why did Trump succeed where Biden failed?Today's Big Question As the first stage of a ceasefire begins, Trump’s unique ‘just-get-it-done’ attitude may have proven pivotal to negotiations
-
Trump urges jail for Illinois, Chicago leadersSpeed Read The Texas National Guard begin operations in the Chicago area
-
The party bringing Trump-style populism to JapanUnder The Radar Far-right party is ‘shattering’ the belief that Japan is ‘immune’ to populism’
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-offSpeed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
