Ms Carroll sued Mr Trump for defamation after he attacked her while rejecting her claim that he raped her in a New York department store more than 20 years ago. Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington posted a statement from the former president on the social media platform last week ahead of the Oct. 19 deposition. “You have to fight for years and spend a fortune to get your reputation back from liars, scammers and hackers… It’s a hoax and a lie, just like all the other hoaxes that have been played on me for the last seven years” , Mr. Trump said in part. “And while I shouldn’t say it, I will. This woman is not my type! He has no idea what day, what week, what month, what year or what decade this so-called ‘event’ supposedly took place,” Trump added. The new statement could open Mr Trump up to a new defamation claim, according to legal experts, as he launched the verbal attack as a private individual and not as the president of the United States. The former top federal prosecutor in Detriot, Michigan, Barbara McQuade, told Vice News that Ms. Carroll “must amend her complaint to include an additional count based on the new statement.” “Because Trump is no longer president, this statement was certainly not made in the context of his federal employment,” he added. “Trump just blew up his defense of 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’s protected from defamation as POTUS — but Carroll can now amend her complaint since Trump is a private citizen.” It’s unclear how long the deposition will take or how many details, if any, will come to light after it takes place. In 2019, Ms. Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s. Trump later said he was “absolutely lying” and that he was “not my type.” This led to Ms Carroll suing for defamation. On Wednesday, Trump was forced to sit for a closed-door hearing on the case.
