#E. Jean Carroll claims Trump’s tax return ruling helps proceed defamation case

Lawyers for journalist E. Jean Carroll filed court papers Thursday arguing that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on President Trump’s finances means he can’t use a presidential immunity defense in her defamation lawsuit and the case should go forward without delay.

The filing come a day after the high court decided that a New York grand jury can subpoena Trump’s tax returns and financial records, adding that Trump is not immune from subpoenas and criminal investigations.

“It follows directly from [the Supreme Court ruling] that Trump’s assertions of immunity in this case, as well as his purported arguments for a stay, are completely baseless,” Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan wrote in a letter to a Manhattan Supreme Court judge.

Carroll filed suit in November, claiming that Trump defamed her when he publicly denied her allegations that he raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman changing room around 1995.

“Trump has no special right to defame those who have accused him of sexual misconduct and then avoid the consequences of his actions,” Kaplan later wrote in the letter from Friday.

“The United States Supreme Court reminded us yesterday of two crucial principles that guide this nation,” Kaplan said in a prepared statement. “First, in our system of government no one is above the law. Second, this principle applies to President Trump just like it does to everyone else.”

Lawyers for Trump did not immediately return a request for comment.