Jury orders Trump to pay E. Jean Carroll $US83m for defamation
The verdict adds to the former US president’s financial obligations after an earlier jury said he must pay columnist E. Jean Carroll $US5 million.
A federal jury ordered Donald Trump to pay $US83 million ($126.2m) in damages for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, after a trial in which she accused him of shattering her reputation while he was president by denying her claims of sexual assault.
The jury of seven men and two women arrived at their verdict Friday (Saturday AEDT) after less than three hours of deliberation in Manhattan. A different federal jury last year awarded Carroll $US5 million after finding Trump liable for sexually assaulting her in the 1990s and then defaming her when he denied it in 2022.
The new verdict covers statements Trump made during his White House tenure in which he said Carroll, an author and former Elle magazine columnist, fabricated the assault to generate publicity for her new book.
Her lawyers asked for about $US12 million to repair her reputation, at least another $US12 million for emotional distress, plus unusually high punitive damages intended to stop Trump’s ongoing derogatory comments about Carroll, which he has continued to voice on social media and in campaign appearances while the proceedings were ongoing.
The current trial, unlike the prior one, was marked by frequent appearances from Trump, who wasn’t required to attend but did so on most days, in what appeared to be a strategic choice to leverage his legal troubles to rally his supporters as he campaigns for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
When Carroll testified, Trump repeatedly shook his head and conferred with his attorney, prompting the writer’s lawyer to complain that his comments about a “con job” and “witch hunt” could be heard by the jury.
On Thursday, Trump made the briefest of appearances on the witness stand and was constrained in what he was allowed to say. Because the earlier jury already found that Trump sexually abused Carroll in a Manhattan department-store dressing room, the former president couldn’t attempt to relitigate that question now, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled.
Trump answered a handful of questions from his lawyer that had been approved by the judge, who then told jurors to disregard portions of the former president’s answers in which he again sought to deny the assault.
Kaplan warned Trump about his behavior several times during the trial, at one point threatening to exclude him from the courtroom. “I understand you’re probably very eager for me to do that,” Kaplan said.
“I would love it,” Trump replied, putting up his hands.
The case is one of a half dozen against Trump that are providing an unprecedented backdrop for the 2024 presidential race. In the coming days, a New York judge is expected to rule on civil claims by the state attorney general that Trump lied about his wealth to obtain better terms from bankers. The former president is also facing four separate criminal indictments.
Carroll’s lawyers argued that Trump had used his status as president to prompt a torrent of online criticism and threats from his supporters.
“Speaking from the White House, Donald Trump used the most famous platform on earth to lie about what he had done, to attack Ms. Carroll’s hard-earned integrity, and to falsely accuse her of inventing a terrible lie,” Shawn Crowley, a lawyer for Carroll, told the jury.
Carroll, who spent about a day and a half on the stand, told the jury that Trump’s 2019 comments, which came after New York Magazine published her claims, destroyed her reputation as a journalist and made her fear for her safety. She said she left her pit bull unleashed outside her home for protection and purchased bullets for the gun she keeps beside her bed.
The previous $5 million she won from Trump is currently being held in a court account while his appeal in that case is pending.
During closing arguments Friday morning, Trump stormed out of the courtroom after a lawyer for Carroll told jurors that the former president wasn’t above the law and had continued to attack her client.
Trump returned for the closing argument by his lawyer, Alina Habba, who accused Carroll of wrongly blaming Trump for harassment she received on social media.
Not only did Carroll not suffer any harm due to Trump’s comments, but she had gained fame and status, Habba said. She told the jury that Carroll was looking for a windfall because people on social media said mean things.
“This is about some people in their mother’s basements who will always be mean on social media,” she said.
The Wall Street Journal
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