New York City – After years of malicious insults and attacks, a jury has ordered former President Donald Trump to pay author E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in damages for defaming and sexually abusing her in the 1990s. This monumental verdict serves as a resounding defeat for the former president’s long pattern of misogynistic bullying and deception.
On Friday, the 9-member jury deliberated for less than 3 hours before awarding Carroll $65 million in punitive damages, determining that Trump had acted with malice in his nonstop barrage of falsehoods against her. This comes on top of the $18.3 million in compensatory damages granted to Carroll for the immense suffering she has endured.
Carroll’s legal team, led by Roberta Kaplan, argued that only a substantial penalty could finally muzzle Trump’s relentless attempts to denigrate and dismiss Carroll ever since she first came forward with rape allegations in 2019. Kaplan stated after the verdict, “This proves that the law applies to everyone in our country, even the rich, even the famous, even former presidents.”
The astronomical $83.3 million verdict dwarfs the $5 million another jury awarded Carroll last spring, after concluding Trump had indeed sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-90s. He then proceeded to publicly defame her as a liar, including a defamatory post on his Truth Social platform just this October.
Throughout the latest civil trial, Trump was an overtly disruptive presence, muttering insults like “con job” loud enough for the jury to hear. At one point, the judge warned that Trump could be excluded for his distracting outbursts aimed at undermining the proceedings.
This self-sabotaging behavior aligns with Trump’s apparent belief that he can act with impunity, above the rules and standards of decency that govern others. During closing arguments, Carroll’s lawyer Shawn Crowley emphasized to the jury, “You saw how he has behaved through this trial. You heard him. You saw him stand up and walk out of this courtroom while Ms. Kaplan was speaking. Rules don’t apply to Donald Trump.”
Trump’s own belligerent conduct in the courtroom added considerable weight to the plaintiff’s demand for exorbitant punitive damages. His brazen disrespect for the judicial process itself only reinforced his longstanding pattern of destructive misbehavior.
True to form, when the damning verdict was read, Trump had already stormed out of court in a huff, avoiding the consequences of his actions yet again.
Trump’s attorney Alina Habba later griped to reporters outside, “We did not win today, but we will win.” She reiterated Trump’s familiar refrain that the legal system is somehow rigged against him, rather than acknowledge her client’s clear liability.
Of course, Trump will likely appeal the devastating jury award, preventing Carroll from collecting anytime soon. But Kaplan emphasized the broader significance of the verdict, stating “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.”
For Carroll, the jury’s decisiveness after less than three hours stands as rousing vindication after years of Trump unleashing his below-the-belt attacks. He first lashed out against her with his typical barrage of falsehoods in 2019, when she initially came forward about the mid-90s sexual assault in an excerpt from her memoir published in New York Magazine.
He emphatically insisted that Carroll was “totally lying” about the rape, which she asserts occurred in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan. Trump crassly added that she was “not my type,” as if to preemptively undermine her credibility and cast doubt on her claims.
But Carroll refused to be intimidated into silence, filing a pair of lawsuits in 2022 after New York legislation temporarily opened a window allowing adult victims to pursue civil action related to sexual abuse, regardless of expired statutes of limitation.
This paved the way for Carroll’s first landmark victory last spring, when the initial jury found Trump liable for the long-ago sexual assault, as well as defamation for his public attacks meant to shame and silence her.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over both Carroll vs. Trump trials, had already ruled that these earlier jury conclusions would carry over to the current proceedings. So the second jury’s purpose was narrowly focused on calculating appropriate damages related to Trump’s ongoing harmful speech against Carroll.
Yet Trump apparently couldn’t resist reverting to his reflexively belligerent and insulting tendencies, despite how much these actions have already cost him. His lawyers unsuccessfully fought to give him more leeway to stray beyond damages and re-litigate issues of guilt already established at the previous trial.
But Judge Kaplan asserted early on, “I want to know everything he is going to say,” pointedly limiting Trump’s testimony only to matters directly concerning his attacks on Carroll. In the end, Trump managed to stay on script for barely five minutes on the witness stand, offering little of substance before retreating.
Meanwhile, his reckless online rants and real-world outbursts resonated loudly in court, providing Carroll’s team compelling examples of his continuing malicious behavior that warranted severe punishment.
On some days, Trump made over 40 hostile posts regarding Carroll on his Truth Social media platform, demonstrating his obstinate refusal to alter his vicious pattern, even under oath in a court of law with millions of dollars on the line.
During her testimony, Carroll explained how this relentless nastiness mobilized many of Trump’s most belligerent supporters, subjecting her to a firestorm of threats and harassment online and in her personal inbox. She emphasized that this significantly compounded her trauma over the original sexual assault.
“I was living in a new universe,” Carroll told the jury, her reputation as an esteemed Elle advice columnist left “shattered” by Trump’s persistent vilification.
In her meticulous closing arguments, Kaplan methodically explained why substantial compensatory and punitive damages were fully justified, considering Trump’s wealth and dogged determination to continue attacking Carroll.
She highlighted deposition footage where Trump arrogantly bragged about the massive value of his personal brand and real estate holdings, estimating his net worth could exceed $20 billion. Kaplan then implored the jury, “Now is the time to make him pay for it, and now is the time to make him pay for it dearly.”
Trump reacted by storming out of court in a telling display of petulance and entitlement. But the jury ultimately had the final word, sending an unmistakable message rebuking his odious malice with their historic verdict.
The outcome provides a measure of justice and vindication for Carroll after so many years weathering Trump’s vitriol. But it also conveys a broader warning that even the rich and powerful will be held accountable for unchecked abuses of their position and platform.
This resounding rebuke of Trump’s wrongdoing caps off a period of ups and downs for the former president. He recently notched key early victories in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries after securing wins in Iowa and New Hampshire.
This has strengthened his status as the presumptive GOP frontrunner gunning for a non-consecutive second term in the White House. But the massive penalty in his civil case with Carroll reminds that Trump remains hamstrung by lingering legal vulnerabilities, despite his political resurgence.
Beyond Carroll’s lawsuits, Trump still faces a pending fraud case brought by New York’s Attorney General Letitia James, which wrapped up trial proceedings this month. James is seeking nearly $370 million in penalties from Trump over allegations of extensive financial fraud.
Additionally, the former president continues to be plagued by four separate criminal indictments in jurisdictions from New York to Atlanta to Washington D.C. The allegations range from election interference to defrauding taxpayers to obstructing official proceedings.
At least one of these criminal cases appears likely to go to trial sometime prior to November 2024, which could become a disastrous distraction for Trump’s White House aspirations.
But for now, E. Jean Carroll’s emphatic victory in court marks a major setback for Trump that could reverberate across his scattered legal challenges. Though appeals will delay her ability to collect the substantial damages awarded, Carroll has nonetheless regained her power and voice after Trump tried to bully her into silence.
This landmark verdict resoundingly proves that truth can prevail over lies, and that the legal system can still hold even the most prominent abusers accountable, no matter how aggressively they seek to evade consequences. It conveys hope for all those fighting for justice against the powerful.
