Trump ordered to pay over $80 million in E. Jean Carroll defamation trial
Trump has been ordered to pay an eyewatering $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll, after lying about sexually abusing her, ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore reports
Former President Donald Trump has been ordered to pay $83.3 million (£65.54 million) to former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, a jury found on Friday.
Last year, a previous jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Ms Carroll in a department store dressing room in the 1990s and for making defamatory comments. She was awarded $5 million.
This jury instead deliberated on how much Trump would have to pay the Ms Carroll for further remarks he made while president.
They found he should pay compensatory damages of $18.3 million: $11 million to fund a reputational repair campaign and $7.3 million for the emotional harm caused by Trump’s 2019 public statements.
Trump was also told to pay $65 million in punitive damages for acting maliciously in making the statements about Carroll.
The total is more than eight times what Carroll asked for in her initial lawsuit.
Over the past week, jurors heard parts of a 2022 deposition in which Trump vehemently denied Carroll's allegations, calling her “sick” and a “whack job.” Trump told jurors on Thursday that he stood by that deposition, “100%."
But on Friday, he left court three minutes into closing arguments by Ms Carroll's lawyer, who said Trump was a liar who thought rules did not apply to him.
The longtime advice columnist alleges that Trump attacked her in 1996, then defamed her by calling her a liar when she went public with her story in a 2019 memoir.
She says they ran into each other at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store close to Trump Tower, bantered and ended up in a dressing room, teasing each other about trying on lingerie.
Ms Carroll has testified that she thought it would just be a funny story to tell but then he roughly forced himself on her before she eventually fought him off and fled.
The earlier jury found that she was sexually abused but rejected her allegation that she was raped.
While Trump has said a lot about her to the court of public opinion, Thursday marked the first time he has directly addressed a jury about her claims.
Because of the prior jury's findings, Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan said Trump now couldn't offer any testimony “disputing or attempting to undermine” the sexual abuse allegations.
Even before taking the stand, Trump chafed at those limitations as the judge and lawyers for both sides discussed what he could be asked.
“I never met the woman. I don’t know who the woman is. I wasn’t at the trial,” he cut in from his seat at the defense table without jurors in the room. Kaplan told Trump he wasn't allowed to interrupt the proceedings.
Trump attended the trial fresh off big victories in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday and the Iowa caucuses last week. Meanwhile, he also faces four criminal cases.
He has been juggling court and campaign appearances, using both to argue that he’s being persecuted by Democrats terrified of his possible election.
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