List of All Articles with Tag 'eric'

A Rhode Island state senator was arrested in Cranston last week for allegedly keying a car with a “Biden sucks” bumper sticker, local police said in a statement. State Sen Joshua Miller, a Democrat who has served in the state senate for nearly two decades, was captured on surveillance footage allegedly keying the vehicle in the parking lot of the Garden City Center. According to the police statement, the vehicle’s passenger said he heard a scratching noise and saw Miller with his keys in his hands while walking back to their car. When police caught up with Mr Miller several hours after the incident, he denied keying the car and he believed the vehicle owner was a conservative activist who had been stalking him at the statehouse for his role in promoting gun safety legislation. Mr Miller in February sponsored a bill to ban the purchase, sale, and transfer of assault weapons in the state. “Is this maniac who yelled at me in the car next to me?” Mr Miller asked the police officer who detained him in a body camera footage released by the Cranston Police Department. Mr Miller then offered his explanation of events, telling the officer that the vehicle owner called out his name. “He was blocking my way, saying that I scratched his car, I didn’t scratch his car,” Mr Miller said. “I’m a state senator, I think he recognized me. I think he’s one of the gun nuts.” Mr Miller then told the officer that Colonel Michael Winquist was aware that he has been stalked in recent months by people opposed to his political activities. In a statement on the incident, however, the Cranston Police Department wrote that “Mr Miller never reported any threats to Colonel Winquist or any member of the Cranston Police Department.” After police officers viewed the surveillance footage, Mr Miller was arrested for vandalism/malicious injury to property and charged with a misdemeanor. When questioned again, the police statement said, Mr Miller said the vehicle owner was “daring me” to key the car. He was later arraigned and released on a $1,000 bond. He is due back in court on July 18 for a rearraignment. “Nobody is above the law, including those who make and enforce the laws,” Mr Winquist said in a statement. “The Officers who handled this investigation did so with fairness, integrity, and without preferential treatment. I would expect no less from the fine men and women of the Cranston Police Department.” The Independent has reached out to Mr Miller’s office for comment. Read More Man's death awaiting trial on charges he killed his mother at sea was not suspicious, autopsy says The Great Grift: More than $200 billion in COVID-19 aid may have been stolen, federal watchdog says LOCALIZE IT: E-cigarettes are pouring into the US despite FDA crackdown

A Florida man who has been on the run for almost four decades for a 1984 murder has been caught in California and extradited back to Florida, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

Who can the Dallas Mavericks add in the offseason other than Kyrie Irving or Draymond Green?The Dallas Mavericks' first order of business when free agency opens on June 30 will be negotiating the terms of Kyrie Irving's next contract. Irving could always balk at the last second, but al...

Kyrie Irving free agency destinations.

Former President Donald Trump’s legal team suffered a setback on Tuesday as a federal judge commented that his argument for moving a trial on 34 counts of falsifying business records out of state court was “far-fetched”. The comments from Judge Alvin Hellerstein were reported by NBC 4; the criminal prosecution is one of two the former president is now embroiled in as his legal entanglements continue to worsen. Mr Trump is accused in New York of falsifying business records dozens of times with the purpose of hiding a well-reported hush money scheme in which he supposedly paid his former attorney to recompense payments that the attorney, Michael Cohen, made to adult film star Stormy Daniels and other women with tales of alleged extramarital affairs with his boss. The former president has denied both the allegations of extramarital affairs as well as his own supposed role in covering them up; his ex-attorney Cohen, however, has explained his boss’s role in the scheme. Mr Trump’s attorneys had sought to see the case moved from court in New York state to a federal jurisdiction, as part of an effort to see the case dismissed on grounds that he supposedly made the payments in 2017 as part of his work as president. On Tuesday, Mr Hellerstein appeared to scoff at that argument. “It sounds a little far fetched, but that's the argument,” Mr Hellerstein reportedly said. He is set to make a final ruling on this matter within two weeks. He also added that as of yet, the Trump attorneys had provided “no reason to believe that an equal measure of justice could not be rendered by the state court”, and given no convincing evidence or arguments to support the idea that there was a “relationship to any official act of the president” and the payments. Mr Trump’s attorneys are defending him from more than 60 felony counts over two indictments; the ex-president is also accused of illegally retaining classified materials and other presidential documents at his resort at Mar-a-Lago. The ex-president continues to insist that the prosecutions are part of a political effort against him even as that argument appears to be losing traction among some establishment Republicans. Read More Biden touts his economic record in fiery speech: ‘Guess what – Bidenomics is working’ Trump’s latest defence in the classified documents case: ‘Bravado’ Chris Christie attacks Trump for diverting campaign funds to legal battles: ‘Cheapest SOB I’ve ever met’ DeSantis supporter blames Trump camp for leaking racist and antisemitic messages ‘Any Republican not named Trump’: Paul Ryan says former president is only candidate who would lose to Biden Liz Cheney lays out damning problem with US politics: ‘We’re electing idiots’

President Joe Biden touted his economic record amid continuing dissatisfaction among Americans with the state of the US economy by saying his policies have proven effective. Mr Biden delivered a fiery speech on Wednesday in Chicago where he sought to flip a term that the Wall Street Journal outlets have used against him--Bidenomics--into a plus. “I didn’t come up with the name, I really didn’t, I’m not offended by it,” he said. “I’m happy to call it Bidenomics.” The president, who is seeking re-election in 2024, said that the US economy has largely recovered from the recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and had sought to refute Republican economics. “Guess what? Bidenomics is working,” he said to applause. “When I took office, the pandemic was raging and the economy was reeling. Supply chains were broken. Millions of people were unemployed.” Despite low unemployment, many Americans continue to see inflation as a top priority. A survey from the Pew Research Center last week showed that 52 per cent of Democrats and 77 per cent of Republicans say inflation is still a “very big problem.” Mr Biden sought to soothe those concerns by saying he continues to prioritise lowering prices and noted how inflation is less than half of what it was one year ago. “Bringing down inflation remains one of my top priorities today,” he said. Mr Biden also mentioned the progress that his signature Inflation Reduction Act has made, such as allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. “We’ve been trying to get this done for decades and this time we finally beat big pharma for the first time,” he said. Mr Biden also touted how the law is aiding red states like West Virginia, the home of conservative Democratic Sen Joe Manchin, who has vocally criticised the Biden administration’s implementation of the law as he weighs whether to seek re-election in a staunchly Republican state. The president also touted the expansion of rural broadband, specifically naming Sen Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who opposed the measure previously. “To no one’s surprise, it’s bringing along some converts,” he said. “People strenuously opposed voting against it when we had this going on. This was going to bankrupt America.” Mr Biden’s speech is one of his first outlining his economic doctrine as he seeks to create a contrast between himself and Republican presidential candidates. “This vision is a fundamental break from the economic theory that has failed America's middle class for decades: It’s called trickle-down economics,” he said, describing the economic theory that argues that cutting taxes for the wealthiest individuals and corporations would lead to wealth spreading to the middle-class and low-income Americans. “The trickle-down approach failed the middle class. It failed America.” He also sought to show that he could accomplish what his predecessor and would-be 2024 challenger former president Donald Trump could not achieve by passing the bipartisan infrastructure law. “Remember infrastructure week? Infrastructure week became infrastructure week and week and week and it never happened,” he said, a reference to the fact that the Trump administration regularly touted “infrastructure week.” “We got infrastructure decade done right off the bat.” Mr Biden also planned to continue to shore up cash for his re-election effort and shortly after the event, headed to a fundraiser at the J.W. Marriott’s Grand Ballroom that same day. Read More What next for Biden’s billion dollar broadband expansion? Watch as Biden makes statement on economic policy in Chicago Watch as Biden makes statement on economic policy in Chicago Cambodian leader Hun Sen, a huge Facebook fan, says he is jumping ship to Telegram Paul Ryan says Trump is only Republican candidate who would lose to Biden in 2024

The Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly made several last-minute changes to the 12-week abortion ban it passed earlier this year in an effort to stave off a legal challenge. The state’s abortion ban, which is set to take effect on 1 July, is being challenged in court. That lawsuit, attorneys said, was the main factor behind the Republican majority’s decision to introduce an amendment to an unrelated Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) bill that effectively amends the abortion ban. ”The General Assembly is working to pass and enact, with or without the Governor’s signature, a technical and conforming bill to make changes to clarify and address most, if not all, aspects of Plaintiffs’ claims about the Act,” W Ellis Boyle, an attorney for House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger, wrote in a legal filing on Tuesday. The amendment to the DHHS bill, House Bill 190, directly addresses a number of the concerns outlined in the lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of the South Atlantic and a number of other organisations. For instance, the lawsuit argues that a provision of the abortion ban stating that it is illegal “after the twelfth week of a woman’s pregnancy to advise, procure, or cause a miscarriage or abortion” violates the Constitution by preventing people from legally providing information about how a person could get legal abortion care in another state. In response, the amendment to HB 190 removes the word “advise” from the text of the abortion ban. The amendment also seeks to clean up a section on the regulation of medication abortion — which is banned after 10 weeks, not 12 — by deleting language that physicians prescribing medication abortions would have to verify that a pregnancy is no more than “70 days” old. Backers of the lawsuit, who are seeking a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent the abortion ban from taking effect on 1 July, do not believe that the changes to the ban proposed amendment to HB 190 go so far as to eliminate the need for the restraining order. “If those amendments are passed, they may remedy some of the constitutional violations that Plaintiffs allege,” North Carolina attorney general Josh Stein, nominally the defendant in the suit, wrote in a court filing reported by CNN. “But unless and until the current law is repealed or significantly amended, immediate injunctive relief is necessary to avoid a due-process violation.” Mr Stein, a Democrat, has said he does not intend to defend parts of the abortion ban his office believes are unconstitutional. Mr Stein wrote that even if the amendments pass, they would still “fail to make clear that doctors in North Carolina can help their patients obtain abortions out of state.” It is not yet clear whether Gov Roy Cooper, also a Democrat, intends to sign HB 190 or not. Mr Cooper vetoed the abortion ban, but saw his veto overriden by Republican supermajorities in the legislature. The fact that North Carolina is in the position of dealing with a 12-week abortion ban at all is a surprise: when the legislative session started, the Republicans did not have the votes needed to override a veto of an abotion bill. That changed, however, when Rep Tricia Cotham — a Democrat representing a heavily Democratic seat in the Charlotte area — suddenly switched her party affiliation and gave the Republicans the final vote needed to override Mr Cooper’s veto. Read More North Carolina Republicans censure Sen Thom Tillis for backing LGBT+ rights One year after Roe v Wade fell, anti-abortion laws threaten millions. The battle for access is far from over

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, a devoted and very active user of Facebook — on which he has posted everything from photos of his grandchildren to threats against his political enemies — said Wednesday that he will no longer upload to the platform and will instead depend on the Telegram app to get his message across. Telegram is a popular messaging app that also has a blogging tool called “channels.” In Russia and some of the neighboring countries, it is actively used both by government officials and opposition activists for communicating with mass audiences. Telegram played an important role in coordinating unprecedented anti-government protests in Belarus in 2020, and currently serves as a major source of news about Russia’s war in Ukraine. The 70-year-old year Hun Sen is listed as having 14 million Facebook followers, though critics have suggested a large number are merely “ghost” accounts purchased in bulk from so-called “click farms,” an assertion the long-serving prime minister has repeatedly denied. The Facebook accounts of Joe Biden and Donald Trump by comparison boast 11 million and 34 million followers, respectively, though the United States has about 20 times the population of Cambodia. Hun Sen officially launched his Facebook page on Sept. 20, 2015, after his fierce political rival, opposition leader Sam Rainsy, effectively demonstrated how it could be used to mobilize support. Hun Sen is noted as a canny and sometimes ruthless politician, and has since then managed to drive his rival into exile and neutralize all his challengers, even though Cambodia is a nominally democratic state. Hun Sen said he is giving up Facebook for Telegram because he believes the latter is more effective for communicating. In a Telegram post on Wednesday he said it will be easier for him to get his message out when he is traveling in other countries that officially ban Facebook use. China, the top ally of his government, is also the biggest country with a Facebook ban. Hun Sen has 855,000 followers so far on Telegram, where he appears to have started posting in mid-May. It is also possible that Hun Sen’s social media loyalty switch has to do with controversy over remarks he posted earlier this year on Facebook that in theory could see him get at least temporarily banned from the platform. As the country’s top leader for 38 years, he has earned a reputation for heated rhetoric, and in January, speaking at a road construction ceremony, he decried opposition politicians who accused his ruling Cambodian People’s Paty of stealing votes. “There are only two options. One is to use legal means and the other is to use a stick,” the prime minister said. “Either you face legal action in court, or I rally (the Cambodian) People’s Party people for a demonstration and beat you up.” His remarks were spoken on Facebook Live and kept online as a video. Perhaps because of heightened consciousness about the power of social media to inflame and trigger violence in such countries as India and Myanmar, and because the remarks were made ahead of a general election in Cambodia this July, complaints about his words were lodged with Facebook’s parent company, Meta. Facebook’s moderators declined to recommend action against Hun Sen, judging that his position as a national leader made his remarks newsworthy and therefore not subject to punishment despite their provocative nature. However, the case was forwarded in March to Meta’s Oversight Board, a group of independent experts that is empowered to render an overriding judgment that could limit Hun Sen’s Facebook activities. They may issue a decision in the next few weeks. The case is being closely watched as an indicator of where Facebook will draw the line in countries with volatile political situations. Hun Sen said his Facebook account will remain online but he will no longer actively post to it. He urged people looking for news from him to check YouTube and his Instagram account as well as Telegram, and said he has ordered his office to establish a TikTok account to allow him to communicate with his country’s youth.. ___ Peck reported from Bangkok. Dasha Litvinova contributed from Tallinn, Estonia. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Cambodian lawmakers approve changes to election law that disqualify candidates who don't vote Trump’s latest defence in the classified documents case: ‘Bravado’ Trump gives ‘bravado’ defence for secret papers tape as he sues E Jean Carroll – live

A Newsmax host put up a bizarre defence of former President Donald Trump over the leaked audio in which he speaks about classified documents with guests at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club two years ago. On the tape, obtained by CNN on Monday, Mr Trump says that the document, reportedly outlining plans of attack against Iran, was “highly confidential” and “secret information”. “See, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t,” Mr Trump said. The recording lines up with a previously reported transcript of the conversation with biographers working on a book about Mr Trump’s last White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Newsmax host Lidia Curanaj argued on Tuesday that Mr Trump could have been lying at the time. Mr Trump was indicted in Miami, Florida earlier in June on 37 counts for willful retention of national defence information, in addition to six other federal violations. “So you know you have some people that say, ‘You know what? We don’t know one hundred per cent for sure that what Trump was holding up was actually a classified document. Was he just kind of being hyperbolic?’” Ms Curanaj said. She later held up a document on the programme American Agenda, adding, “I could say, ‘This is a classified document’—doesn’t make it true”. “You know how Trump is. We don’t know,” she said. Last week, Mr Trump appeared on Fox News for an interview with host Brett Baier, claiming that he had simply been discussing “newspaper stories, magazine stories, and articles”. “There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things,” Mr Trump told Mr Baier. “And it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. I didn’t have a document, per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories, and articles.” On Tuesday while campaigning in New Hampshire, Mr Trump was asked about the tape on Fox News. “I said it very clearly, I had a whole desk full of lots of papers, mostly newspaper articles, copies of magazines, copies of different plans, copies of stories, having to do with many, many subjects, and what was said was absolutely fine,” Mr Trump said. “We did nothing wrong. This is a whole hoax.” “My voice was fine. What did I say wrong on those recordings? I didn’t even see the recording. All I know is I did nothing wrong,” he added. “We had a lot of papers, a lot of papers stacked up,” he said. “In fact, you hear the rustle of the paper. And nobody said that I did anything wrong other than the fake news, which is Fox, too.” On Monday, Mr Trump appeared on Newsmax, complaining about the Baier interview. “When I did the interview with Bret, I thought it was fine. I thought it was okay,” he said. “But there was nothing friendly about it. You know, it was nasty, and I thought I did a good job. I’ve been getting credit for doing a good job.” “Everything was unfriendly,” he said, adding that there was “no smiling”. Read More Trump news – live: Trump gives ‘bravado’ defence for classified documents tape as he sues E Jean Carroll Chris Christie attacks Trump for diverting campaign funds to legal battles: ‘Cheapest SOB I’ve ever met’ Kevin McCarthy walks back Trump criticism following backlash from Magaworld

Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social to fume about a bombshell leaked audio tape where he is heard discussing holding onto “secret” classified documents after leaving office – and admitting that he knows he cannot declassify them. In the recording, captured during a July 2021 meeting at Mr Trump’s Bedminster golf club and released by CNN on Monday, the former president is heard boasting and laughing with associates about possessing “highly confidential” military documents about Iran. “These are the papers,” he says. “This was done by the military and given to me.” As the sound of what appears to be papers rustling is heard, Mr Trump references a “big pile of papers” and makes the startling confession that he knows he can no longer declassify the documents because he is no longer president. The former president reacted to the release of the tape in a characteristic rant on Truth Social on Monday night, where he railed against “Deranged Special Prosecutor” Jack Smith and baselessly accused the Justice Department (DOJ) and the FBI of leaking it. “The Deranged Special Prosecutor, Jack Smith, working in conjunction with the DOJ & FBI, illegally leaked and “spun” a tape and transcript of me which is actually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe,” he wrote. “This continuing Witch Hunt is another ELECTION INTERFERENCE Scam. They are cheaters and thugs!” Mr Trump offered no explanation for his belief that the tape exonerates him – a belief largely at odds with much reaction to the tape. George Conway, Lincoln Project cofounder and vocal critic of Mr Trump, called the former president a “sociopathic criminal” in response to the newly-obtained audio and called it just “another nail in the coffin” for his growing legal issues. “The special counsel already had Trump dead to rights because we knew this tape existed in some form,” “But to actually hear a former president of the United States committing a felony, probably multiple felonies, on audiotape while laughing about it is something I just – I think it’s just stunning.” He added: “I mean, this man has no respect for rules, no respect for the lives of other human beings, no respect for the country, no respect for the Constitution, no respect for his duties. “He is a sociopathic criminal. And this is just another nail in the coffin.” In the two-minute audio, Mr Trump is heard appearing to indicate that he is holding onto a secret military document about Iran. “Well, with Milley, uh, let me see that, I’ll show you an example,” he says. “He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn’t that amazing? I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him,” he says as the noise of papers rustling is heard in the background. “They presented me this – this is off the record, but they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him. We looked at some, this was him. This wasn’t done by me, this was him. All sorts of stuff – pages long, look.” “Wait a minute, let’s see here. I just found, isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret,” he says, to laughter from people inside the room. “This is secret information. Look, look at this. This was done by the military and given to me. As president I could have declassified, but now I can’t.” Mr Trump and the meeting participants go on to joke that Hillary Clinton would “print” out the documents, joking about her “private emails”. “Hillary would print that out all the time, you know. Her private emails,” one staffer is heard saying. “No, she’d send it to Anthony Weiner,” Mr Trump replies, in reference to Ms Clinton’s use of a private email server. The former secretary of state has never been charged with a crime. The audio was recorded on 21 July 2021 at Bedminster during a meeting between Mr Trump, at least two of his aides and people helping Mr Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows with his memoir. The audio was previously revealed in the DOJ’s indictment charging Mr Trump over his handling of classified documents but has never been heard until now. Its release appears to contradict Mr Trump’s claim in a Fox News’ interview that he did not have any documents. Earlier this month, Mr Trump was indicted on 37 federal charges over his handling of classified documents, including national defence information, after leaving the White House. The indictment, which was unsealed on Friday (9 June), alleges that Mr Trump deliberately lied to and misled authorities so that he could hold onto documents that he knew were classified. On at least two separate occasions, Mr Trump then showed some of the classified documents to people not authorised to see them, the indictment alleges. Stunning photos revealed that many of the documents were stored around a toilet, shower and ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The charges include 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information and single counts of false statements and representations, and counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document, concealing a document in a federal investigation and a scheme to conceal. He pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment in a Miami federal courthouse, becoming the first current or former US president ever charged with a federal crime. Mr Trump’s longtime aide Walt Nauta was also charged with six obstruction- and concealment-related charges after he allegedly helped move boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago to Mr Trump’s residence and then lied to investigators about having any knowledge of the handling of the papers. The two men appeared in court together but Mr Nauta did not enter a plea as he did not have legal counsel in Florida. Mr Nauta is now scheduled to appear for his arraignment on Tuesday morning. Read More Trump news – live: Trump fumes about leaked CNN audio capturing him boasting about ‘secret’ papers Trump critics say bombshell secret papers audio has him ‘dead to rights’: ‘Couldn’t be more incriminating’ Trump and DeSantis to hold dueling campaign events in New Hampshire after squabbling over timing Rape accuser files new lawsuit as Trump seethes over 2024 flop – live Where do Donald Trump’s family stand on him running in 2024? Trump revealed to have tweeted classified image from spy satellite

Despite his large lead in a crowded Republican primary field, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he does not know if Donald Trump is the “strongest” candidate to take on President Joe Biden in the 2024 election. In an interview on CNBC, Mr McCarthy said Mr Trump can beat Mr Biden but that he’s not sure another Republican couldn’t do better. Later in the day, the speaker appeared to walk back the remarks by telling Breitbart that the former president is “stronger today than he was in 2016”. On Monday night, bombshell audio revealed the former president apparently bragging about possessing still-classified military documents about Iran after he left the White House. In the recording, from a July 2021 meeting at Mr Trump’s Bedminster golf club and released by CNN, the former president is heard audibly shuffling the documents. Mr Trump took to Truth Social to fume about the tape, railing against “Deranged Special Prosecutor” Jack Smith and baselessly accusing the DOJ and FBI of leaking it. Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s co-defendant in the classified documents case, his aide Walt Nauta, has had his arraignment in Miami postponed after his flight was delayed by bad weather in New Jersey. Read More Trump fumes about ‘illegally leaked’ CNN tape of him boasting about classified documents Donald Trump countersues E Jean Carroll for defamation over rape claims Rudy Giuliani interviewed by special counsel over 2020 election interference attempts, says report Trump wants to keep 'communists' and ‘Marxists’ out of the US. Here’s what the law says Is Trump the best candidate to beat Biden? Kevin McCarthy says ‘I don’t know’

Donald Trump sued E Jean Carroll for defamation on Tuesday after a jury held him liable for sexually abusing her. The former president filed a counterclaim in Manhattan federal court, accusing the author of tarnishing his reputation publicly. He has sought retraction as well as unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. According to the court filing, Mr Trump “has been the subject of significant harm to his reputation, which, in turn, has yielded an inordinate amount of damages sustained as a result”. Last month, a jury of six men and three women found that the former president was liable for sexual abuse, and not liable for rape, before awarding Ms Carroll $5m in damages. He also launched a fresh defamatory attack on Ms Carroll last month just hours after her lawyers formally asked to amend her remaining defamation lawsuit against the ex-president to include his “smears” at a CNN town hall. “Trump’s defamatory statements post-verdict show the depth of his malice toward Carroll since it is hard to imagine defamatory conduct that could possibly be more motivated by hatred, ill will, or spite,” the proposed amended complaint said. “This conduct supports a very substantial punitive damages award in Carroll’s favour both to punish Trump, to deter him from engaging in further defamation, and to deter others from doing the same,” the complaint said. After his statements about her on CNN, Ms Carroll’s lawyers had asked a Manhattan federal court judge for permission to amend the first defamation lawsuit that she filed against Ms Trump in 2019. He later wrote on Truth Social: “I don’t know E Jean Carroll, I never met her or touched her (except on a celebrity line with her African American husband who she disgustingly called the ‘Ape,’),” he wrote. Mr Trump has previously also accused Ms Carroll of calling her husband “ape”, without any evidence. “I wouldn’t want to know or touch her, I never abused her or raped her or took her to a dressing room 25 years ago in a crowded department store where the doors are LOCKED, she has no idea when, or did anything else to her, except deny her Fake, Made Up Story, that she wrote in a book. IT NEVER HAPPENED, IS A TOTAL SCAM, UNFAIR TRIAL!” he added. Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s lawyers said in the court filing on Tuesday: “The interview was on television, social media and multiple internet websites, with the intention of broadcasting and circulating these defamatory statements among a significant portion of the public.” The former president’s court filing on Tuesday is a counterclaim in a separate 2019 defamation lawsuit Ms Carroll filed against him that is set to go to trial in January, it was reported. While Ms Carroll won the first trial, the former president has interpreted the verdict as a victory, of sorts, because of the finding on rape. Additional reporting from agencies Read More Writer's lawyers say Trump is wrong about $5 million sex abuse-defamation jury award Trump's penchant for talking could pose problems as Mar-a-Lago criminal case moves ahead Trump is funneling 10% of 2024 campaign donations to cover his legal bills Rape accuser files new lawsuit as Trump seethes over 2024 flop – live Where do Donald Trump’s family stand on him running in 2024? Trump revealed to have tweeted classified image from spy satellite