Party or New York magazine. Trump separately stated in an interview with The Hill that Carroll was "totally lying" and that "she's not my type." Carroll provided New York a photograph of her and her husband at the time, John Johnson, socializing with Trump and his then-wife, Ivana Trump, in 1987. Trump dismissed its significance, saying, "Standing with my coat on in a line — give me a break — with my back to the camera. I have no idea who she is." Carroll initially chose not to describe the alleged sexual assault as rape, instead describing it as a fight. "My word is fight. My word is not the victim word... I fought." Overview Initial defamation lawsuit (November 2019) In November 2019, Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit with the New York Supreme Court. The suit states that Trump had damaged her reputation, substantially harmed her professionally, and caused emotional pain. After it was filed, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham described the lawsuit as "frivolous" and claimed Carrolll’s story was fraudulent. In January 2020, Carroll's attorneys served a request for a DNA sample from Trump for "analysis and comparison against unidentified male DNA present" on a black dress she said she was wearing when the alleged assault occurred. In December 2020, Carroll said she was willing to delay collecting the sample and testimony from Trump in exchange for earlier access to other relevant records. The DNA sample request includes a DNA report on Carroll and five others who may have contacted the dress during a photo shoot. In September 2020, government lawyers from the Department of Justice (DOJ) asserted that Trump had acted in his official capacity while responding to Carroll's accusation; they asserted that the Federal Tort Claims Act grants their department the right to take the case from Trump's private lawyers and move it to federal court. A White House official also argued that the act provides precedent for the government to exercise this right. Carroll's lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, stated that "Trump's effort to wield the power of the U.S. government to evade responsibility for his private misconduct is without precedent." In October 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan (not related) rejected the DOJ's motion, arguing that the president is not a government employee and that Trump's comments were not related to his job as such. The following month, the DOJ filed an appeal with