A panel of nine jurors ordered former President Donald Trump to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83 million in damages at the close of the defamation trial on Friday.
It breaks down as $18.3 million for compensatory damages, which include $11 million to fund a campaign to repair Ms. Carroll’s reputation, $7.3 million for emotional harm, and $65 million in punitive damages.
Ms. Carroll had sued President Trump in 2019 over two statements he made denying allegations of sexual assault.
According to CNN, the judge advised jurors to never disclose their participation in the trial after explaining that they could speak about having served on the jury but were prohibited from disclosing the identity of other jurors.
“My advice to you is that you never disclose that you were on this jury, and I won’t say anything more about it,” U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan said.
Shortly afterward, President Trump, who had already left the courthouse, blasted the verdict and reiterated his intention to appeal on Truth Social.
“Absolutely ridiculous! I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party. Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!,” he wrote.
Closing arguments finished on Friday, during which attorney Roberta Kaplan asked the jury to award Ms. Carroll $24 million in compensatory damages and additional punitive damages.
Defense attorney Alina Habba said during closing statements President Trump had told the truth when he refuted Ms. Carroll’s claims and said he didn’t know her and never touched her, and therefore cannot be liable for defamation.
She claimed Ms. Carroll had sought fame and publicity, and received them through her accusations toward the former president, and argued President Trump couldn’t be blamed for the negative attention and threats that followed.
The jury has been instructed to accept as true the sexual assault allegations, as a separate civil case last year found President Trump liable for “sexual battery” and awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million.
The previous case included defamation claims regarding 2022 statements that President Trump made about Ms. Carroll, but the current case deals only with the two statements made in 2019 while he was still in office.
Abrupt Exit
President Trump abruptly left the courtroom minutes into the plaintiff’s closing statement earlier on Friday, after the judge and Ms. Habba clashed once again.
Judge Kaplan interrupted to note: “The record will reflect that Mr. Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom.”
Right before the plaintiff’s closing argument, Ms. Habba was asked to stop talking, and threatened with jail time when she didn’t.
“You are on the verge of spending some time in the lockup. Now sit down,” Judge Kaplan said.
The courtroom was packed for the last day of the trial, which spanned about two weeks.
President Trump later returned to the courthouse, but left before the jury delivered the verdict.
2 Cases
The case is one of two brought against President Trump by Ms. Carroll, dealing with accusations she made in 2019 and his response.
While President Trump was still in office, Ms. Carroll accused him of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room sometime in the 1990s. He publicly denied the accusation in a statement and interview responses while also claiming that he didn’t know who she was, that he never touched her, and that she wasn’t his “type.”
In 2022 statements, President Trump also suggested Ms. Carroll was suing him to gain publicity to sell her book. In her second case against President Trump, Ms. Carroll alleged rape as well as defamation.
A law passed by New York State allowed Ms. Carroll to bring a sexual abuse case outside the statute of limitations during a period from 2022 to 2023. The jury found President Trump liable for “sexual battery” last May.
After the jury awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million, she amended this first complaint to demand $10 million in damages. The amount has since risen to more than $24 million, but will be decided by the jury.
Judge Kaplan, presiding over both cases, issued a summary judgment last September finding President Trump liable for defamation.
The judge wrote that there was no genuine issue regarding material facts to be tried, as they had already been settled in the other, similar case, and thus Ms. Carroll was entitled to a judgment.
“The truth or falsity of Mr. Trump’s 2019 statements therefore depends—like the truth or falsity of his 2022 statement—on whether Ms. Carroll lied about Mr. Trump sexually assaulting her. The jury’s finding that she did not therefore is binding in this case and precludes Mr. Trump from contesting the falsity of his 2019 statements,” the judge wrote. “Mr. Trump’s contrary arguments are all unpersuasive.”
Ms. Carroll had argued that “no reasonable person could believe that Trump acted with actual malice in October 2022 but lacked it in June 2019” in her request for the pre-trial ruling.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
From The Epoch Times
