E. Jean Carroll can add Trump CNN town hall comments to lawsuit, judge rules

E. Jean Carroll can amend her initial defamation lawsuit filed against former President Trump to include additional comments he made about her during a CNN town hall, a judge ruled Tuesday. 

Carroll was awarded $5 million last month after a Manhattan jury ruled in her favor and found Trump liable of sexual abuse and defamation. The jury did not find him liable of rape. Trump has denied the allegations and appealed the decision. 

That case was separate from Carroll’s initial lawsuit in 2019, which accused Trump of defaming her when she first came forward with her allegations. He called her claims a “hoax” and a “con job” at the time. 

That initial lawsuit, which has been stalled as courts consider whether Trump is immune from liability since he made the comments when he was president, is the lawsuit to which Carroll’s legal team won the right to amend. 

At the CNN presidential town hall, which took place one day after Trump was found liable of sexual abuse and defamation, Trump took aim at Carroll, calling the case “fake news” and claiming he did not know Carroll. 

He also called her a “whack job,” which was met with resounding laughter from the audience of Republican and Republican-leaning voters.  

Carroll’s lawyers filed the amended lawsuit following the town hall. Trump’s lawyers subsequently tried to block the court from granting the amended lawsuit, a request deemed moot by the ruling today by District Judge Lewis Kaplan. 

Kaplan also ruled that the Department of Justice needs to determine whether Trump does in fact have immunity in the case by July 13, 2023. 

“We look forward to moving ahead expeditiously on E. Jean Carroll’s remaining claims,” said Robbie Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney said. 

Trump was arraigned in a Florida court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to 37 counts of criminal charges related to obstruction and willful retention of national security information.