Former president vows to appeal ruling which comes less than one year after Carroll was awarded $5m in sexual assault and defamation case
On Friday, a New York City jury awarded E Jean Carroll $83.3m in her defamation case against Donald Trump.
E Jean Carroll will receive $18.3m as compensatory damages, and $65m as punitive retribution. Carroll will receive $11m in reputational damage funding and $18.3m as compensatory damages from the former president. The $7.3m represents the emotional damage caused by Trump’s public statements in 2019. E Jean Carroll and her team of lawyers were beaming when they left the courtroom in a black SUV. They didn’t answer any questions after the court ended.
Trump blasted the decision as “absolutely absurd” on Truth Social and announced that he was filing an appeal.
Trump wrote: “I am totally against both verdicts and I will appeal this entire Biden Directed Witch Hunt aimed at me and the Republican Party.” “Our legal system is out of hand and being used to create political weapons. They have removed all First Amendment Rights. “THIS IS NOT AMERICA!”
The Manhattan federal court’s decision comes less one year after E Jean Carroll, who sued Trump for sexual abuse and defamation, won $5m.
This amount is based on Carroll’s claim of rape against the president, which was made in an New York article from June 2019. This publication published an excerpt from her book What Do Men Need? A Modest Proposal.
Carroll claimed in that excerpt that Trump had raped Carroll inside the dressing area of a Manhattan department store at around early 1996. Carroll’s 2019 defamation lawsuit against Trump was based on the tone of Trump’s denials, including that she lied or was a political agent.
E Jean Carroll couldn’t sue Trump at the time because the alleged assault occurred outside of the civil statutes of limitations. In 2022, a novel New York law, the Adult Survivors Act opened a year-long window for adult accusers who had committed crimes outside of the civil statute.
E Jean Carrollsued Trump for defamatory remarks and the incident after his presidency ended. The judge of both cases, Lewis Kaplan decided that the jury’s findings, that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll and tarnished Carroll’s reputation, would be accepted at trial.
Trump was unable to re-litigate Carroll’s sexual abuse complaint. Jurors had to decide on financial penalties for harming Carroll’s reputation, and how much money was needed to prevent Trump from making further defamatory remarks.
E Jean Carroll testified that Donald Trump had assaulted her. “When I wrote about this, he denied it ever happened.” “He lied and it destroyed my reputation. I expected him not to deny, but rather to claim that it was consented to, which it wasn’t. “But that’s exactly what I expected him say.”
She added: “The thing about this that really got my attention was that the White House asked if anyone knew anything about me and if so, that they come forward as quickly as possible because he wanted to let the world know what is really happening – and people like me pay dearly.”
Trump didn’t attend Carroll’s first trial, but he did appear at the second one – the first time Carroll confronted Trump publicly in a legal room. Trump’s behavior in the courtroom was consistent with his notoriously bombastic behaviour, which prompted warnings from Judge.
“Mr Trump is entitled to be here.” Kaplan warned that this right could be forfeited. It can be lost if Trump is disruptive as has been reported, or if he ignores court orders.
“Mr Trump, i hope I don’t need to exclude you from the trial… I know you probably are very eager for that to happen.”
Trump responded with a hand gesture, “I’d love it. I’d love it.”
Kaplan stated, “I’m sure you’d do it, but you can’t seem to control yourself.”
Chaos caused by Covid was also a hallmark of Trump’s legacy in the final stages of this case. The trial was postponed on 22 January because one juror had coronavirus symptoms. His leading attorney Alina Habba also informed Judge Kaplan she felt unwell after being exposed to Covid.
Trump took the stand on January 25. Kaplan limited the scope of both her questions and responses in accordance with his previous ruling that he couldn’t re-litigate any of her claims.
Habba is allowed to ask, “Do you still stand by your testimony from the deposition?”
He replied, “100%, yes”, referring to his deposition where he denied the claims of hers.
“Didn’t you deny it because Ms Carroll accused you?”
“That’s right. She said something. I think it’s a false charge. No difference,” Trump retorted. Carroll’s side objected. Kaplan claimed that all the words after “yes, i did” were struck.
Did you ever tell anyone to harm Ms Carroll?
“No. Trump replied, “I just wanted to defend me, my family and, frankly, the president.” Carroll’s team raised objections again. Kaplan ordered that the words “no”, and everything following, be struck out. Jurors were then instructed to ignore this statement.
The total duration of Trump’s cross and direct testimony was about two to three minutes.
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