'This is about principle. It's about a powerful man assaulting and raping a woman and then getting away with it. That's not right,' E. Jean Carroll said.
{{featured_button_text}} NEW YORK — A lawyer for a woman who accused former President Donald Trump of raping her in the mid-1990s and then filed a defamation lawsuit against him said Tuesday she will not seek to depose Trump prior to trial because it would cause unnecessary delay, but added that a DNA sample was still being sought.
She said she would be"more than perfectly happy" to wait to interview Trump at trial, which she estimated could occur in as little as six months, after some near-term legal obstacles are cleared. "This is about principle. It's about a powerful man assaulting and raping a woman and then getting away with it. That's not right," she said.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to rule eventually on Trump's request that the United States take his place as the defendant in the lawsuit. The U.S. Justice Department has asserted that Trump cannot be held personally liable for"crude and disrespectful" remarks he made about Carroll because his remarks were made as he was carrying out his duties as president.