Donald Trump Charged To Recompense $83.3 Million In Defamation Trial
Former President Donald Trump on Friday was ordered by a federal jury in New York City to pay $83.3 million in damages to E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of defaming her reputation as a journalist by denying he raped her in the 1990s.
Carroll had been seeking a minimum of $10 million, but the jury awarded her $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages.
In May, she awarded $5 million by a different jury, which found Trump not liable for rape but responsible for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her. The former president is appealing that decision.
Carroll claims Trump forcibly groped and then raped her in a Manhattan department store nearly three decades ago. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has claimed that he had never heard of Carroll prior to her legal action against him.
Trump released a statement Friday evening after the verdict was announced.
“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,” Trump’s statement read. “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!”
Donald Trump sits in court
Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom during his civil fraud trial in New York State Supreme Court on November 6, 2023, in New York City. Trump on Friday was ordered by a jury.
The jury—consisting of seven men and two women—reached a verdict within three hours of deliberations.
“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 Judge Lewis Kaplan told the jury after the verdict was read.
Trump attorney Alina Habba spoke out against the verdict to reporters outside the Manhattan courthouse on Friday.
“We are seeing a violation of our justice system. You are not allowed to be stripped of every defense that you have,” she said, in part. “I am proud to stand with President Trump because he showed up. He stood up, he took the stand, and he faced this judge. And you know what? I’ll continue to do so with him.”
Newsweek reached out via email to Carroll’s attorney for comment on Friday night.
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Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, still faces 91 felony charges spread across four criminal indictments, two of which are federal proceedings. He has pleaded not guilty in all of the cases, while claiming the legal actions against him are politically motivated.
