Donald Trump Calls E Jean Carroll’s Abuse Allegations '100 % Fabricated', says 'Never Met Her'

Washington: Former United States President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed the allegations made by American journalist, E Jean Carroll that the Republican candidate had sexually assaulted her 30 years ago at a departmental store.

Trump on Friday attended the appeal proceedings with regards to this case, after a jury in 2023, determined that the former US President had assaulted Carroll in a department store dressing room around 30 years prior. The jury awarded Carroll $2 million for sexual abuse and $3 million for defamation, due to Trump's repeated efforts to damage her reputation after she publicly accused him just over five years ago.

Addressing a press conference at Trump Tower, former US President said, “She (E Jean Carroll) made up a story. It is fabricated 100 per cent that I attacked her. Carroll’s favorite show is Law & Order. And there's almost an exact story as her story in Law & Order about being attacked in the dressing room of a department store."

Trump also claimed that he has never met E. Jean Carroll in his entire life and called the jury’s verdict “ridiculous”.

“It’s a ridiculous verdict. I never met that woman, I have no idea who she is. She wrote a book and made up a ridiculous story. We are appealing the verdict,” he said. 

On the pictures of him and  E Jean Carroll being circulated, Trump said it could have been AI generated. 

“I have never met the woman. It could have been AI generated. I never met, I never touched her. I was very famous then,” he said. 

Disappointed With My Legal Team, says Trump

“I feel sad that I have to explain all this with all the legal talent here. But legal talent cannot overcome rigged judges. Honestly, I am disappointed with my legal talent.   

Trump attorney D. John Sauer told 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges that the civil trial in Carroll’s lawsuit was muddied by improper evidence.

“This case is a textbook example of implausible allegations being propped up by highly inflammatory, inadmissible” evidence, Sauer said, noting that the jury was allowed to consider such items as the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump boasted years ago about grabbing women’s genitals.

Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said the evidence in question was proper, and that there was plenty of proof in the nearly two-week-long trial of Carroll’s claim that Trump attacked her in a luxury department store dressing room decades ago.

“E. Jean Carroll brought this case because Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in 1996, in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, and then defamed her in 2022 by claiming that she was crazy and made the whole thing up,” Kaplan said.

The three-judge panel is not expected to issue a ruling before the November presidential election.

A jury determined that Trump sexually abused Carroll, a claim he denies. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.

Trump’s lawyers argue that the verdict should be overturned due to the inclusion of evidence at trial that they believe was improperly admitted, and the exclusion of other evidence that they believe should have been allowed.