A New York jury announced Friday afternoon that it has ordered former President Donald Trump to pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in damages for defaming her. The former president slammed the decision on social media.
The nine-person jury began deliberating in federal court at 1:40 p.m. and reached a verdict in less than three hours. However, Mr. Trump reportedly He left the courthouse around 4 p.m. before the jury returned its verdict in a trial that began on January 16.
Federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan announced the verdict after a jury concluded that President Trump made defamatory comments about Carroll while in the White House in June 2019.
The jury determined that Trump must pay Carroll $18.3 million in damages, including $11 million in damages to her reputation and $7.3 million in emotional and other damages. President Trump was also ordered to pay a massive $65 million in punitive damages, totaling $83.3 million.
To calculate the damage to Carroll's reputation from Trump's comments, Carroll's legal team hired Ashley Humphries, a professor of consumer sentiment at Northwestern University. The expert witness argued that Carroll would make the request. $12.1 million She sought damages to restore her reputation from Trump's comments.
Trump's lawyer Alina Habba argued that the $12.1 million figure has “more holes than Swiss cheese.”
Haba disputed that Carroll “aggressively sought comment and attention” and “did not demonstrate any entitlement to damages.”
Regarding the threats Carroll received from Trump supporters, Haba said the former president “can control social media users as much as he can control the weather.”
Carol's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said: Asked The jury sought $24 million in damages and “unusually large punitive damages.”
President Trump reacted to the jury's decision with a furious defamatory article on Truth Social.
“Absolutely ridiculous! I totally disagree with both verdicts and intend to appeal the entire Biden-led witch hunt focused on me and the Republican Party,” President Trump declared on Truth Social. post. “Our legal system is out of control and is being used as a political weapon.”
President Trump declared, “They took away all of our First Amendment rights. This is not America!”
Hours before the ruling was announced, President Trump criticized U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan.
“Judge Kaplan refused to allow E. Jean Carroll to say in her Anderson Cooper interview on CNN that “Rape is sexy'' and many other statements that completely exonerate me.'' Trump the president said on Truth Social. post.
“Judge Kaplan is denying people their constitutional right to due process to protect themselves from this false accusation,” the former president argued. “This is a one-sided trial where the other side gets everything and we get nothing. He is a very abusive person, the likes of which I have never seen before!”
In June 2019, Carroll claimed that President Trump raped her sometime in 1996 at the Bergdorf Goodman department store across from Trump Tower in Manhattan.
Trump, who was president at the time, called Carroll a “terrible job” and claimed he had never met her.
President Trump has repeatedly and vehemently denied the sexual assault allegations made by Carroll.
2024 Republican presidential frontrunners Said This week: “We don't even know who this woman is. We don't know who she is or where she came from. This is another scam…a political witch hunt.”
Last May, another jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages and nearly $3 million in defamation for public comments President Trump made about her in 2022. I put it down. Trump is appealing the decision.
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