E. Jean Carroll’s legal fight against Trump: 10 key moments

Longtime advice columnist E. Jean Carroll has now taken former President Trump to civil trial two times, winning tens of millions in damages after a legal battle that began in 2019 when she accused Trump of sexual assault.

Her courtroom success has followed a multi-year, complicated legal fight that has included two cases and multiple different courts.

Here’s a look back at 10 key moments in the legal battle:

1996: Alleged assault occurs

Carroll says she encountered Trump at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store in midtown Manhattan, in the spring of 1996.

A few years earlier, Carroll had begun publishing her “Ask E. Jean” column in “Elle” magazine, which she would go on to continue for decades.

Carroll claims the former president recognized her at the store and asked for help buying a present for “a girl.” They soon ended up in a dressing room, and once inside, Carroll says Trump sexually assaulted her.

Afterwards, Carroll says she confided in two friends: author Lisa Birnbach and Carol Martin, a longtime news anchor at New York City’s CBS station.

June 2019: Carroll comes forward, Trump immediately denies claims

On June 21, 2019, New York magazine published an excerpt from Carroll’s forthcoming book, “What Do We Need Men For?”

“Hideous Men: Donald Trump assaulted me in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room 23 years ago. But he’s not alone on the list of awful men in my life,” the headline read, thrusting Carroll’s story into public view for the first time.

Trump denied her claims in a written statement the White House began circulating a few hours later.

“I’ve never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book—that should indicate her motivation,” he wrote at the time. “It should be sold in the fiction section.”

On the White House South Lawn the next day, a reporter asked Trump about Carroll’s accusations as he headed outside to board Marine One.

Despite the former president’s claim he hadn’t met Carroll in his written statement, the reporter noted a photograph showing both of them together in the 1980s. 

“Standing with coat on in a line—give me a break—with my back to the camera. I have no idea who she is,” Trump replied. “What she did is—it’s terrible, what’s going on. So it’s a total false accusation and I don’t know anything about her.”

November 2019: Carroll sues Trump for defamation

On Nov. 4, 2019, Carroll sued Trump.

Unable to seek damages over the alleged assault itself because the statute of limitations had passed, the advice columnist instead brought defamation claims against the former president over his written statement and South Lawn comments.

The original complaint also noted Trump’s interview with The Hill after Carroll came forward, in which he said “she’s not my type” and again denied her story, although it has since been removed as part of the case.

September 2020: Justice Department steps in

Almost a year later, the Trump-era Justice Department officially got involved on Sept. 8, 2020, giving Trump a potential way out.

Under the Westfall Act, they sought to step in and substitute themselves as the defendant, certifying that Trump made the statements in question in the scope of his employment as president.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, an appointee of former President Clinton, rejected the effort weeks later. The legal battle quickly got messy and would go on to tie up the case for multiple years as the Biden-era Justice Department continued fighting on appeal.

November 2022: Carroll sues Trump a second time

As Carroll’s first lawsuit remained tied up, New York became one of multiple states to enact legislation in the wake of the #MeToo movement, reviving previously time-barred claims seeking civil damages for sexual misconduct.

When New York’s Adult Survivors Act went into effect on Nov. 24, 2022, giving plaintiffs a one-year lookback window to bring those claims, Carroll the same day sued Trump again. 

This time, she sought damages for the alleged assault itself. The author also included a new claim of defamation over Trump’s denial of her story in October 2022.

Notably, the claims did not involve any alleged conduct while he was in office, enabling the case to move ahead toward trial without the Westfall Act issue. 

May 2023: Jury finds Trump liable for sexual battery

After Trump’s various efforts to toss Carroll’s second lawsuit failed, the case headed to trial.

On May 9, 2023, a federal jury in New York found Trump liable for sexual abuse. Carroll also won her defamation claim against Trump and a total of $5 million in damages.

Their battle quickly escalated.

The day after the verdict, Trump appeared for a pre-scheduled CNN town hall and again denied Carroll’s story. She proceeded to add those comments to her original defamation lawsuit that hadn’t yet gone to trial.

The former president then countersued Carroll for defamation over a CNN appearance of her own hours before Trump’s town hall. Carroll had indicated he raped her, despite the jury finding that he was only liable for sexual abuse — not rape — under New York’s definitions.

Kaplan, the judge, ultimately tossed Trump’s counterclaim, ruling it was merely a legal technicality that bore no distinction when the average people describes rape.

July 2023: Multi-year, complicated legal fight ends with DOJ departing case, leaving Trump on the hook

After the escalation, which Carroll’s lawyers later described as a “tit-for-tat,” Carroll’s first lawsuit began to move forward.

The Justice Department’s attempted involvement had zig-zagged through the courts for nearly three years, involving a panel of federal judges in New York and the entire bench of D.C.’s top local court.

It ended with no clear resolution, and the Justice Department reversed on July 11, 2023 and stepped away from the case, leaving Trump on the hook.

September 2023: Trump found automatically liable in first case/defamation suit

Kaplan on Sept. 8, 2023, ruled that Trump was liable for defaming Carroll because his denials were automatically false and defamatory under the previous jury’s verdict. 

It handed Carroll a partial victory, although the issue of damages would remain for a jury.

December 2023: Appeals court denies Trump’s attempt at asserting immunity

As one of his final strategies to avoid going to trial in the remaining case, Trump had mounted an effort to assert immunity in the case on his own without the Justice Department.

Kaplan ruled that Trump had waited too long to try and assert immunity, but an appeals court agreed to hear Trump’s appeal on an expedited matter before the upcoming scheduled trial.

On Dec. 13, 2023, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Kaplan’s ruling, paving the way for trial.

January 2024: Trial in Carroll’s original defamation suit

On Jan. 26, 2024, a second jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to Carroll for defaming her in June 2019 when she initially came forward with her story.

Unlike the first trial, Trump attended much of the proceedings and even took the stand in his own defense, turning it into a campaign stop as he zig-zagged between Manhattan federal court and New Hampshire.

“This is not America, not America, this is not America,” Trump said in the courtroom the day before the verdict.