World Latest Updates: A jury determined on Friday that former President Donald Trump owed writer E. Jean Carroll over $83 million in damages for the persistent defamation of her.
At 1:40 p.m. ET, the nine-member jury in federal court in New York started deliberations and rendered a decision in less than three hours.
Carroll received an award of $11 million for reputational harm, $7.3 million for emotional distress and other damages, and $65 million in punitive damages.
Following heated final remarks that saw Trump storm out of the courtroom, a decision was made. He came back for his own lawyer’s closing statements, but he fled the courtroom before the jury announced the verdict at 4 p.m.
A short while later, he shared about it on Truth Social, his social media platform. He wrote, “Absolutely ridiculous!” and said he would make an appeal. “Every First Amendment right has been stripped away by them. I am not in America.
Reporters were informed by his lawyer, Alina Habba, that the decision “reeks” and that the case is “a violation of our justice system.”
When Carroll left the courtroom, she would not speak to reporters. However, she later released a statement in which she declared, “This is a great victory for every woman who stands up when she’s been knocked down, and a huge defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down.”
“The verdict proves that the law applies to everyone in our country, even the rich, even the famous, even former presidents,” said Roberta Kaplan, her attorney.
She went on, “We appreciate the jury defending E. Jean and the rule of law.
This jury’s only responsibility was to decide how much Carroll should be awarded in damages because Trump had previously been found guilty for defaming her during his presidency by making fun of her claim that he had sexually abused her.
In order to prevent him from further defaming Carroll, Kaplan had requested “lots and lots of money” in punitive damages in addition to at least $24 million in compensatory damages for the harm Carroll had endured.
She stated that Trump “believes the rules don’t apply to him.” She cited the amount of times he has continued publicly criticizing Carroll since he was originally found accountable for defaming her last year. “He thinks with his wealth and power he can treat Ms. Carroll how he wants and will suffer no consequences,” she said. “Make him pay for what he has done to E. Jean Carroll,” she implored the jury to do.
She also provided the jury with other instances of Trump’s constant jabs at Carroll to media outlets and on social media following the $5 million decision in the other case last year. Earlier this week, during the trial’s pause due to Covid-related issues, Trump made over thirty posts regarding Carroll on his Truth Social website.
Carroll “had failed to show she is entitled to any damages at all,” according to Habba, who insisted in her closing remarks that Carroll “actively sought the comments and the attention” she received. She added that the numerous threats she received online after going public had nothing to do with Trump. She remarked, “He controls social media users just as much as he controls the weather.”
Habba said that Carroll’s expert analysis, which suggested that repairing her reputation would require $7 million to $12 million, had “more holes than Swiss cheese.” Carroll was given $11 million by the jury for that claim.
Trump served as the case’s last witness before the trial began on January 16. He did not give a five-minute testimony.
Carroll has now lost two trials against Trump. A different jury last year found Trump guilty of defaming her by making fun of her accusations after he left the White House and of sexually abusing her in a department shop in New York City in the 1990s. Trump is challenging the $5 million damages award they gave her.
Based on the jury’s verdict, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan—who is unrelated to Carroll’s lawyer—found Trump guilty for defamation in the current case. Despite being prohibited by the ruling from testifying that Carroll’s assertion was untrue, Trump nevertheless succeeded in doing so throughout his brief testimony. “I consider it a false accusation,” he stated.