US writer Jean Carroll sues Donald Trump for calling her sex assault claim a lie

An advice columnist who has accused President Donald Trump of raping her in a New York City department store dressing room in the 1990s has sued him, saying he defamed her by calling her a liar whom he had never even met.

E Jean Carroll's lawsuit, filed Monday in New York, said Trump "smeared her integrity, honesty and dignity - all in the national press" when he responded to her allegations, first broached in a New York magazine article this past June.

Carroll claims that her column depends on reader letters soliciting her advice, and that during July, August and September, she received roughly 50% fewer letters than she did during the same period in 2018. 

Carroll's lawsuit asks Trump to "retract any and all defamatory statements" and pay damages in an amount to be determined at trial.