A jury on Friday ordered former President Donald Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages to a writer who accused him of him of ruining her reputation by denying he raped her in 1995 or 1996.
The jury awarded $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages. That’s far more than the $10 million writer E. Jean Carroll had sought.
Carroll sued Trump in 2019 after he denied that he had raped her in 1995 or 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room.
Trump had said he never met Carroll. His attorneys argued Carroll had sought fame and attention. Trump said she made up the story to boost sales of her memoir.
Trump said Friday’s verdict was a sign the nation’s legal system was broken.
“Absolutely ridiculous!,” he wrote on Truth Social. “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!”
In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for $5 million in damages for sexually abusing Carroll and calling her a liar. In that trial, Carroll testified that Trump raped her and then defamed her by calling her a liar in a 2022 post on Truth Social, his social media platform. That jury found Carroll failed to prove that Trump raped her, but proved that Trump sexually assaulted her.
Trump, 77, is leading in the primary race for the GOP nomination to challenge incumbent President Joe Biden.
Carroll’s civil case is among the many legal challenges Trump faces as he campaigns. He faces 91 felony charges in four criminal cases.
Trump has said the legal challenges amount to a politically charged witch hunt designed to interfere with his bid to re-take the White House.
The Washington D.C. trial, one of the two federal criminal cases, is set to start March 4. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team of federal prosecutors charged Trump with four federal counts related to contesting the 2020 election and the storming of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. The charges include conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction, and conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted, according to the indictment. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
After that is Trump’s New York state criminal case, set to start on March 25. In that case, Trump pleaded not guilty in April to 34 felony counts related to charges he paid hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels through a lawyer before the 2016 presidential election and covered it up as a legal expense before being elected president.
Then comes the scheduled start of the classified documents case in Florida on May 20. In that case, Trump has pleaded not guilty to 40 felony counts that allege he kept sensitive military documents, shared them with people who didn’t have security clearance, and tried to thwart the government’s attempts to get them back.
The final one is Trump’s Georgia criminal trial is set for Aug. 4. In that case, Trump stands accused of trying to interfere in the state’s 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty.
Brett Rowland
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Reposted with permission
