By Dareh Gregorian and Adam Reiss - NBC News
Writer E. Jean Carroll asked a judge Monday to add a new claim to her original — and still pending — defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, after Trump called her "crazy" during an interview with CNN in early May.
In court papers Monday, Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's attorney, said her client was seeking "very substantial punitive damages" for Trump's comments.
The former president made his comments a day after a federal court in New York found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll at a Manhattan department store in the 1990s and then defaming her by saying her claims were a fraud. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.
Writer E. Jean Carroll arrives in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 9, 2023.
Trump complained shortly after the verdict on his social platform Truth Social, and attacked Carroll during the CNN interview the following night, according to the amended lawsuit filed by Carroll's lawyer.
Asked about his reaction to the verdict by the CNN interviewer, Trump responded by "repeating the same defamatory statements for which the jury had found him liable the day before," the court filing said.
"During the exchange, Trump falsely said that he had not sexually abused Carroll, that he had no idea who he was and that his accusation, now proven, was 'false' and 'an invention' of a 'crazy,'" among other insults, according to the text.
"This conduct merits very substantial punitive damages in favor of Carroll to punish Trump and discourage him from continuing to slander, as well as discourage others from doing the same," the lawsuit update said.
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Alina Habban, Trump's lawyer, told NBC News that "Ms. Carroll's last-minute attempt to make changes to her complaint exposes the true motivation behind her numerous lawsuits."
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A spokesman for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The civil case, which went to trial last month, was the result of Carroll's second lawsuit against Trump. The first alleged that Trump defamed her by calling her a liar, after the writer went public with her claim, when Trump was president.
That case became entangled in an appeal over whether Trump could be held responsible for those comments, which he made while he was president.
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A Washington appeals court sent the case back to New York for further proceedings, and the lawsuit is again pending before District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the recent trial.
Trump has notified that he will appeal the verdict that awarded 5 million dollars to the writer.