Donald Trump shared videos on Truth Social calling E Jean Carroll “crazy” and mocking her rape claims against him just hours after he was deposed in her defamation case against him.
Ms Carroll accused Mr Trump of defamation after he lashed out at her while rejecting her allegation that he raped her in a department store in New York more than 20 years ago.
In 2019, Ms Carroll made the accusation against Mr Trump that he raped her in a dressing room in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s.
Mr Trump later said she was “totally lying” and that “she’s not my type”, prompting Ms Carroll’s defamation lawsuit.
On Wednesday, Mr Trump was forced to sit for a deposition in the case behind closed doors.
On Thursday morning, Mr Trump shared two videos heavily critical of Ms Carroll.
The videos, posted on Truth Social, were uploaded to Rumble, a conservative video hosting site.
The first video posted by Mr Trump begins with bombastic music and a caption saying “a former Playboy editor is losing badly to President Trump in a frivolous lawsuit after she embarrassed herself on CNN”.
A newscaster in the video says “Donald Trump has won a court ruling against an author ... a federal appeals court struck down a judge’s ruling that Trump could be sued for defamation by E Jean Carroll”.
Ms Carroll then appears in the video during an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN.
“I think most people think rape is a violent assault,” Mr Cooper says.
“I think most people think of rape as being sexy,” Ms Carroll responds. “They think of the fantasies.”
A caption then states that “no one witnessed her false claim”.
“The store was not populated at the time,” Ms Carroll tells Mr Cooper. “Nobody was there ... plus a dressing room door was open, which is very unusual because usually they’re locked.”
“A door just happened to be unlocked,” a video caption states. “She was laughing afterwards.”
“I call my friend right away,” Ms Carroll tells Mr Cooper. “And one of the first things she says to me is ‘EJ, stop laughing’.”
A video caption asserts that Trump “didn’t know this woman”, calling her story “ridiculous”.
Mr Trump then shared a separate video of Newsmax host Greg Kelly questioning her credibility.
“She made a crazy accusation against Donald Trump ... that he sexually assaulted her in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman. It is totally, totally preposterous, makes absolutely no sense. There is absolutely no evidence and she is crazy,” Mr Kelly says, then playing the interview used in the first video, when Ms Carroll appeared on CNN with Mr Cooper on 25 June 2019.
“The word ‘rape’ carries so many sexual connotations... this was not sexual, it just ... hurt,” Ms Carroll says.
“Then they through to commercial break right away because they knew she was a lunatic,” Mr Kelly says. “Yet they had to depose President Trump today about this insane person's accusations. That is awful. It's un-American or maybe it is, maybe frivolous lawsuits are what America is about. I don't know.”
Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington posted a statement by the former president on the social media platform last week, ahead of the deposition on 19 October.
“You have to fight for years, and spend a fortune, in order to get your reputation back from liars, cheaters, and hacks…It is a Hoax and a lie, just like all the other Hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years,” Mr Trump said in part.
“And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will. This woman is not my type! She has no idea waht day, what week, what month, what year, or what decade this so-called ‘event’ supposedly took place,” Mr Trump added.
The new statement may open Mr Trump up to a new defamation claim, according to legal experts, as he launched the verbal assault as a private citizen and not as the president of the United States. He previously cited his position in office as a defence.
The former top federal prosecutor in Detriot, Michigan, Barbara McQuade, told Vice News that Ms Carroll “should amend her complaint to include an additional count based on the new statement”.
“Because Trump is no longer president, this statement was most certainly not made in the scope of his federal employment,” she added.
“Trump just blew up his defense against E Jean Carroll’s defamation case by calling her claims a ‘hoax’ on Truth Social,” Brian Karem tweeted on Tuesday. “Trump’s lawyers argued he was protected against defamation as POTUS - but Carroll can now amend her complaint since Trump is a private citizen.”
