Trump again attacks E. Jean Carroll, as he appeals rape defamation penalties

• Donald Trump appeared to once again deny rape and defamation claims against him by E. Jean Carroll.
• The presumptive Republican presidential nominee claimed on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that the numerous judgments against him in New York will prompt companies to leave the state.
• Trump days earlier posted a $91.6 million bond to secure the judgment from one of Carroll's defamation cases while he appeals the verdict.

Donald Trump on Monday once again denied writer E. Jean Carroll's rape and defamation claims against him, despite facing nearly $90 million in civil penalties over similar denials.

Speaking on CNBC's "Squawk Box," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee claimed that the numerous judgments against him in New York will prompt companies to leave the state.

They're "the most ridiculous decisions," Trump said, "including the Ms. Bergdorf Goodman, a person I'd never met."

"I have no idea who she is, except one thing, I got sued," he said. "From that point on I said, 'Wow, that's crazy, what this is.'"

"I got charged, I was given a false accusation and had to post a $91 million bond on a false accusation," Trump added.

He was referring to Carroll, who in 2019 first publicly accused the then-president of raping her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, the Manhattan department store, in the mid-1990s. Carroll sued Trump in New York federal court for defaming her, after he denied the rape claim and accused her of trying to sell books.

In 2022, Carroll sued Trump a second time for battery and defamation relating to the alleged rape and a subsequent denial after he left the White House.

Trump in that Oct. 12, 2022, statement also referred to Carroll as "Ms. Bergdorf Goodman."

A federal civil jury last May awarded