A federal judge on Friday blocked Donald Trump’s countersuit against writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused the former president of rape and initiated defamation proceedings against him.
In a 25-page ruling, District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Trump’s efforts to initiate a retaliatory suit were “futile” and had only served to delay proceeding that could have been settled long ago.
“The record convinces this Court that the [Trump’s] litigation tactics, whatever their intent, have delayed the case to an extent that readily could have been far less,” wrote Kaplan.
If Trump had prevailed, he could have sought money from Carroll to cover his legal fees.
CNN provides key context:
The defamation case is still on hold while the parties wait for a decision from an appeals court on whether the lawsuit can proceed.
Carroll sued Trump for defamation in 2019 in state court after he denied her claim that he raped her in a New York department store dressing room in the mid-1990s, said she wasn’t his type, and accused her of fabricating the claim to boost sales of her book.