The Washington Post via Getty Images
E. Jean Carroll at her home in Warwick, NY.
- On Monday, longtime Elle magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump.
- Carroll made headlines this summer when she accused the president of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-90s.
- Trump denied the allegation and said he had never met Carroll, despite there being photographic evidence to the contrary.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Longtime Elle advice columnist E. Jean Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump on Monday.
Carroll made headlines this summer when she published an account of how Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-90s.
Trump denied the allegation and said he had never met Carroll, despite photographic evidence to the contrary.
"I am filing this on behalf of every woman who has ever been harassed, assaulted, silenced, or spoken up only to be shamed, fired, ridiculed and belittled," Carroll said in a statement on Monday, according to the Washington Post. "No person in this country should be above the law - including the president."
She is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham told Business Insider that "the lawsuit is frivolous and the story is a fraud - just like the author."
"I guess since the book did not make any money she's trying to get paid another way. The story she used to try and sell her trash book never happened, period. Her version of events is not even feasible if you've ever tried on clothing in a dressing room of a crowded department store," Grisham added.
As Business Insider's Eliza Relman reported in June, Carroll's accusation was published in New York magazine as an excerpt from her new book, "What Do We Need Men For?"
Carroll said she met Trump inside Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury Manhattan department store, and agreed to help him select a present for a girl after he asked her for advice. She wrote that Trump assaulted her after she entered a dressing room with him inside the store.
"The moment the dressing-room door is closed, he lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips," she wrote. "The next moment, still wearing correct business attire, shirt, tie, suit jacket, overcoat, he opens the overcoat, unzips his pants, and, forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway - or completely, I'm not certain - inside me. It turns into a colossal struggle."
Carroll wrote that she physically fought Trump off of her and fled the scene of the encounter, which took "no more than three minutes."
"I try to stomp his foot. I try to push him off with my one free hand - for some reason, I keep holding my purse with the other - and I finally get a knee up high enough to push him out and off and I turn, open the door, and run out of the dressing room," she wrote.
Carroll said she told two close friends, both female journalists whose names she did not publicly disclose, about the assault two decades ago. Both women confirmed to New York magazine that they had these conversations with Carroll.
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) or visit their website to receive confidential support.