Writer who accused Donald Trump of rape files updated lawsuit

A writer who accused former US president Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s has filed an upgraded lawsuit after a new state law came into effect, allowing victims to sue their alleged abusers regardless of statutes of limitation.

A lawsuit E Jean Carroll filed against Mr Trump in 2019 is ongoing. Both she and Mr Trump filed depositions in October.

Carroll, a former columnist for Elle magazine, first made her claim that she was sexually assaulted by Mr Trump in a book published in 2019.

But until New York's new Adult Survivors Act took effect on Thursday, Carroll could not file the battery claim because too many years had passed since the alleged incident.

The new law gives sexual assault victims in New York state a one-year window to sue their alleged abusers even when the abuse occurred long ago.

The upgraded lawsuit accuses the former president of battery “when he forcibly raped and groped” her. It also accuses him of defamation when he denied the alleged rape in a post on Truth Social last month.

Carroll's previous lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in 2023, when the presiding judge may decide to include the new claims.

Mr Trump has denied raping Carroll, saying she was “not my tape” and maintaining that the writer was “totally lying”.

Alina Habba, a lawyer for Mr Trump, told AFP that “this case is unfortunately an abuse of the purpose of this act which creates a terrible precedent, running the risk of delegitimising credibility of actual victims”.

In his October 12 statement posted on Truth Social, Mr Trump said Carroll “completely made up a story that I met her at the doors of this crowded New York City department store”.

Mr Trump said the allegation was a “hoax and a lie”. He did not publicly comment after Carroll's upgraded lawsuit on Thursday.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report