After E. Jean Carroll moved to amend her original defamation case against Donald Trump on Monday, the former president posted to Truth Social the next morning, reiterating the same statements he’s been making about her since 2019.
But for as much as his statements have been the same, the ground has shifted underneath Trump, even if he doesn’t realize it or just doesn’t care.
First, Carroll doesn’t just have allegations; she has a jury’s verdict that found Trump liable for sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s and then defaming her last year on Truth Social.
Second, while some questioned whether Carroll would want to move ahead with her initial lawsuit, which was on hold due to a lengthy appeals process, her filing last night provided an answer equivalent to “Heck, yeah!” In fact, not only is Carroll still seeking damages from a trio of statements Trump made about her in June 2019, when her account of the sexual assault was first published, but she is also seeking punitive damages for the statements he made during the CNN town hall just one day after the jury returned its verdict.
That Trump has again awoken early to taunt a litigation foe via social media … only underscores the need for the protective order.
And third, there is the not-so-coincidental overlap with Trump’s criminal case in Manhattan and specifically the guardrails Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over that case, has established to ensure Trump neither taints the jury pool nor threatens the safety of witnesses, prosecutors and even the judge and his own family.
Specifically, in a hearing that lasted only minutes on Tuesday, Merchan seemed to have one overriding objective: Ensure, on the record, that Trump has no confusion or questions about his obligations under the protective order in that case.
The protective order makes clear what Trump can’t do with discovery obtained from the Manhattan district attorney’s office:
- He may not post, distribute or even disseminate any…
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