Donald Trump appears to have defamed E Jean Carroll again after calling her a “stalker” for a decade-old social media post in which she called herself a “massive fan” of The Apprentice.
“Is she, in actuality, a stalker?” Mr Trump wrote on his struggling Truth Social platform, above a 2012 Facebook post by the writer and advice columnist.
The former president has made several apparently defamatory statements about Ms Carroll since he was found liable for her sexual assault and defamation at trial earlier this month.
This week, Ms Carroll’s attorneys filed an amended complaint on her pending defamation lawsuit against the ex-president to include smears against her at a CNN town hall event.
Ms Carroll, 78, was quizzed under cross-examination during the trial about old texts and social media posts in which she spoke of being a fan of The Apprentice, which was then hosted by Mr Trump.
She told the New York jury that she had written several complimentary Facebook posts to support two friends who were appearing on the reality TV show.
She said she enjoyed The Apprentice’s “witty competition”, but usually turned off when Mr Trump would fire contestants at the end of the show.
Dr Leslie Lebowitz, a clinical psychologist hired by Ms Carroll’s legal team, testified that the former Elle columnist suffered a panic attack after being shown an Apprentice episode by a television network.
“She became so flooded with memories, with a sense of panic, that she lost her capacity to speak,” Dr Lebowitz told the court.
Ms Carroll was awarded $5m in damages by the jury after it found Mr Trump liable for sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room, and then harming her reputation by denying the attack had taken place.
