In a reversal of roles, former President Trump responded to his accuser, E. Jean Carroll, by filing a defamation lawsuit against her, alleging she made false accusations of rape.

As per the legal document submitted to the court, it is stated Trump’s reputation suffered considerable damage, leading to substantial injuries.

A former Elle magazine columnist, Carroll has a history of being unusually obsessed with Trump, ranging from sexual fantasies to boasting about how she was one of his biggest fans.  

This obsession extended as back as 2012 when Carroll asked Facebook users if they would sleep with him for $17,000 and later prided herself on being a zealous fan of The Apprentice. 

Carroll’s allegations revolve around Trump defaming her in 2019, claiming he denied he raped her in a department store in the 1990s. 

Further, in an interview with Vanity Fair, Carroll described her lifestyle as unorthodox, including sharing her house with mice, dyeing her standard poodle blue, and supposedly receiving sexual advances from one of her dogs.  

On Tuesday, Trump’s legal team filed in Manhattan court after a New York jury found Carrol’s accusations absurd, but still asked him to pay $5 million. 

According to The Guardian, Trump primarily focuses on retracting compensatory and punitive damages.

Judge Lewis Kaplan was appointed by President Clinton and has gained a reputation for contentious rulings. He’s also scheduled an early 2024 trial date for Carroll’s defamation case against Trump, which was initially filed in 2019. 

The trial court date is set close to the premier of the 2024 presidential election. The timing is now causing speculation about whether the judge or Carroll intentionally propagated the incident to interfere with Trump’s campaign to get back into the White House.