President Trump asked a New York judge to dismiss an allegation from a woman who claimed he raped her in a department store dressing room 20 years ago.
Trump’s lawyer said in a court filing Friday that E. Jean Carroll, an advice columnist, cannot sue the president in New York because the statements at issue were made in Washington.
Trump denies Carroll’s claims and said New York courts lack personal jurisdiction over him “even when the purported statements were published to New York readers/listeners, or were directed towards or caused harm to a New York citizen.”
The president also noted that he hadn’t been served the complaint in New York. Carroll has claimed that Secret Service agents blocked her attempts to serve the complaint, and a judge ruled she could serve it by mail to the White House.
Carroll’s attorney said Trump’s understanding of the law around personal jurisdiction is wrong and meant to avoid having to hand over documents.
“When E. Jean’s case was filed, Donald Trump maintained a home in New York, was registered to vote in New York, paid taxes in New York, and had been sued in New York on numerous occasions — including since 2016 — without any objection,” Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s lawyer, told Bloomberg News. “Tellingly, as his papers make clear, what this motion is really about is a transparent effort to avoid discovery at all costs in a case involving a sexual assault.”
Roughly two dozen women have accused Trump of varying degrees of sexual misconduct, though the president denies all the allegations against him.