E. Jean Carroll, the woman who accused Donald Trump of raping her in a New York City department store in the 1990s, has released a public letter announcing her plans to file a sexual battery lawsuit against the former president.According to CBS News, Carroll attorney Roberta Kaplan suggested her client will file a lawsuit on or after November 24, when New York’s recently-passed Adult Survivors Act is expected to take effect.Under the new law, sexual assault survivors are afforded the right to file civil lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct, irrespective of when the alleged abuse may have occurred.Carroll, adds CBS News, has already filed a defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump.In her letter, Carroll proposed that her defamation claim, as well as her planned sexual misconduct claim, be tried together some time in early 2023.Trump has repeatedly denied sexually assaulting Carroll.While president, Trump said that Carroll was “totally lying” about the assault, alleging that the woman was trying to attract publicity for a memoir.“She’s not my type,” Trump said.Trump’s own attorney, Alina Habba, wrote in a letter dated August 11 that the former president “wholly and adamantly objects” to trying the two claims together, as the “two additional causes of action-namely, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress-would be extraordinarily prejudicial.”Nevertheless, Kaplan said that “discovery in the above-referenced defamation case has been entirely one way,” adding that Carroll is “prepared to produce 30,267 pages of material response to Defendant’s document requests.”

Trump in front of American flag. Image via Flickr/user:thejointstaff. (CCA-BY-2.0).

Kaplan said that Carroll has already provided “substantive responses” to 19 of Trump’s inquiries.Trump, claims Kaplan, has “barely participated in the discovery process.”While Kaplan said that she does not initially believe that Trump needed to be deposed, a “deposition now appears to be the only way to [accelerate the discovery process], especially since we seek to avoid further delay.”Habba, for her part, maintains that Kaplan and Carroll has misrepresented Trump’s participation—or lack thereof—in the discovery process, asserting that Trump is entitled to certain executive privileges."For example, the presidential communications privilege is a well-established doctrine that has been recognized as a 'presumptive privilege for Presidential communications' that are 'fundamental to the operation of government and inextricably rooted in the separation of powers under the Constitution,'" Habba wrote.CBS News notes that the United States Supreme Court had previously rejected Trump’s attempts to use executive privilege to shield himself from the House committee investigating the January 6 riots at the Capitol.

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Trump rape accuser E. Jean Carroll plans new lawsuit against former presidentWoman who accused Trump of rape plans to file sexual battery suit