MANHATTAN (CN) — Lawyers for an author who says President Donald Trump raped her in the 1990s asked Thursday that he provide a DNA sample to see if it matches stains left on the dress she was wearing.
“After Trump sexually assaulted me, I took the black dress I had been wearing and hung it in my closet,” E. Jean Carroll said in a statement this morning. “I only wore it once since then and that was at the photoshoot for the New York Magazine article about my book.”
Carroll, 75, sued Trump for defamation when she went public with her rape accusation last summer and he called it “fake news.”
Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer from Carroll with the firm Kaplan Hecker & Fink, had a lab test her client’s black Donna Karan jacket dress, as well as patent leather heels from Barney’s New York. Those results show that four or more people, at least one of whom was male, contributed to the DNA found on the sleeves. The names of those tested and cleared have been redacted in the lab report.
“This case turns on whether Donald Trump lied when he said that he had not sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll and, in fact, had never even met her,” Kaplan said in a statement Thursday.
“Testing unidentified male DNA on the dress she wore during that assault has become standard operating procedure in these circumstances given the remarkable advances in DNA technology, particularly where, as is the case here, other potential contributors have been excluded,” Kaplan added. “As a result, we’ve requested a simple saliva sample from Mr. Trump to test his DNA, and there really is no valid basis for him to object.”
Carroll is a longtime advice columnist at Elle whose book “What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal” came out last July. She recounts the alleged incident with Trump in the book and in a New York magazine piece.
As alleged in her complaint, Carroll was raped after running into Trump at Bergdorf Goodman. She says the two had bantered before going to the lingerie department of the Manhattan luxury department store for Trump to pick out a gift for an unidentified woman.
In the dressing room, Trump allegedly ripped down Carroll’s tights and pinned her arms, then unzipped his pants and forced his penis inside her.
The Thursday notice from Carroll requests “a buccal [inner cheek], blood or skin cell sample from defendant sufficient for DNA analysis and comparison against unidentified male DNA present on the dress that plaintiff wore during the sexual assault at issue in this action.”
Trump in June 2019 said Carroll was “totally lying” about the alleged incident. Though a 1987 photo shows them and their then-spouses at an NBC party, Trump insisted that they had never met. Trump dismissed the photograph, remarking he was just “standing with my coat on in a line.” Later in an interview with The Hill, Trump said of Carroll, “She’s not my type.”
Carroll is demanding unspecified damages and a retraction of the statements.
Trump has already tried unsuccessfully to have the case dismissed by claiming the court does not have personal jurisdiction over him since the statements about Carroll were not made in New York and he has lived in the White House for three years. Judge Doris Ling-Cohan with the Manhattan Supreme Court swatted down that motion earlier this month.
Then-President Bill Clinton admitted to a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky after DNA testing was conducted on her dress.
Forensic scientists Nancy Wilson and Alan Keel conducted the testing of Carroll’s dress, and wrote and reviewed the report. Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
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