A New York jury has ruled that former US President Donald Trump must pay $83.3m (£65m) for defaming columnist E Jean Carroll in 2019. The penalty, resulting from a civil trial, consists of $18.3m in compensatory damages and $65m in punitive damages. Previously, Mr. Trump was found to have defamed and sexually assaulted Ms. Carroll in the 1990s in another civil case. He has pledged to appeal the recent ruling, dismissing it as a witch hunt and the verdict as “absolutely ridiculous.”
The compensatory damages were awarded to account for the harm his comments caused to Ms. Carroll’s reputation and emotional wellbeing. The punitive penalty was intended to deter Mr. Trump from making further derogatory remarks about her.
The jury, consisting of seven men and two women, took less than three hours to deliver their verdict on Friday afternoon. Ms. Carroll hailed the verdict as a victory for all women who stand up against bullies.
During the trial, Judge Lewis Kaplan advised jurors not to disclose their real names to each other due to the case’s sensitive nature. He also suggested they refrain from revealing their involvement in the case.
Despite denying any wrongdoing or even knowing Ms. Carroll, Mr. Trump refrained from directly attacking her following the verdict. Instead, he expressed his disagreement with the verdicts on his social media platform, Truth Social, and accused the legal system of being used as a political weapon.
Last year, a civil trial found Mr. Trump guilty of sexually assaulting Ms. Carroll in a department store dressing room in the 1990s and defaming her by calling her accusations false. He was ordered to pay her about $5m in damages.
The recent case focused on different defamatory comments made by Mr. Trump in 2019. Mr. Trump left court before the verdict was announced and was not present when it was delivered.
Mr. Trump currently faces four criminal cases involving a total of 91 felony counts, making him the first US president to be charged with a crime. He has consistently claimed that the various legal cases against him are politically motivated. As the Republican party’s leading candidate, Mr. Trump is likely to face off against current US President Joe Biden in the November 2024 general election.
