In the countersuit, Trump’s lawyers argue that Carroll defamed the former president on May 10 during an appearance on CNN by stating that he raped her though the jury a day prior had ruled the former president was liable for sexual assault but could not reach unanimous agreement on the rape allegation.

Trump’s lawyers in the countersuit accuse Carroll of making “these false statements with actual malice and ill will with an intent to significantly and spitefully harm and attack Counterclaimant’s reputation, as these false statements were clearly contrary to the jury verdict in Carroll II whereby Counterclaimant was found not liable for rape by the jury.”

The lawsuit states that the interview was televised and on social media as well as multiple websites with the intention of “circulating these defamatory statements among a significant portion of the public.”

Carroll has filed two lawsuits against Trump, the first in November 2019 for defaming her by denying her allegations that he sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room, and the second in November 2022 for defamation and battery under New York’s then-recently enacted Adult Survivors Act that allowed victims of sexual assault to file civil suits beyond the statute of limitations.

That second suit is the one that was ruled on in May.

Trump filed his countersuit in connection with Carroll’s first lawsuit, which she amended last month to seek $10 million from the president after he appeared in a CNN town hall, also on May 10, and called the writer’s allegations against him “fake” and made up.

That lawsuit was recently given a January trial date, but Trump on Tuesday asked the court to deny Carroll the relief sought in her amended complaint, to make her retract her statements against the former president and award him unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.