Judge rejects as ‘absurd’ Trump bid to dismiss rape accuser’s lawsuit

A federal judge on Friday rejected Donald Trump’s bid to dismiss writer E. Jean Carroll’s second lawsuit accusing the former U.S. president of defamation
for denying he raped her in the mid-1990s.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said Trump’s argument that the former Elle magazine columnist could not prove defamation because she failed to allege “special damages” was without merit.
He also rejected Trump’s argument that Carroll’s battery claim under New York’s Adult Survivors Act must be dismissed because the law denied him due process under the state’s constitution.
Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Carroll’s lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.