A New York jury has ordered former President Donald Trump to pay E. Jean Carroll — a writer who accused him of sexually assaulting her in the early 1990s with no hard evidence to support her claims — a whopping $83.3 million for defaming her in 2019 after vehemently denying her allegations against him.
Deliberations began on Friday following closing arguments, but the jurors reportedly reached a unanimous decision, ordering Trump to pay “$11 million for a reputational repair program, $7.3 million in other compensatory damages, and $65 million in punitive damages,” according to the Hill.
The outlet added that Carroll “broke out into a huge grin after the verdict was read, holding her lawyers’ hands as the jury walked out and, afterward, giving her attorneys hugs.”
In this civil case, the jury was not deciding if it believed Trump defamed Carroll, as U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan previously determined he did. Rather, it was determining the damages to be paid out in the current case stemming from 2019 comments made by the former president.
Carroll first came out with the allegations in 2019, accusing Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the early 1990s. There are no witnesses to this alleged event, and Trump has repeatedly denied her allegations, making it clear that he does not know Carroll. There are holes in her story as well. For example, the dress Carroll claimed she wore during this alleged attack was not even available in the original year she said it happened, as Trump’s lawyers pointed out.
Trump has also shared questionable social media posts made by Carroll over the years, many of which are sexual in nature.
“How do you know your ‘unwanted sexual advance’ is unwanted, until you advance it?” one 2015 post read.
“Sex Tip I Learned From My Dog: When in heat, chase the male until he collapses with exhaustion … then jump him!” another read.
Further, Carroll is backed by Democrat operatives, including anti-Trump Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman — the co-founder of LinkedIn who has admitted to visiting convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s private island.
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In a video statement, Trump reiterated, “I don’t even know who this woman is.”
“I have no idea who she is [or] where she came from. This is another scam. It’s a political witch hunt. And, somehow, we’re gonna have to fight this up. We cannot let our country go into this abyss. This is disgraceful,” he continued:
I don’t even know who this woman is—I have no idea who she is, or where she came from. This is ANOTHER SCAM…it’s a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT…
Donald Trump Truth Social 12:16 AM EST 01/26/24 pic.twitter.com/RETVVU7wQU
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) January 26, 2024
“You have somebody running for office,” he said, referring to himself. “You have a woman that’s financed and lied about it. She totally lied about it [and is backed] by Democrat operatives, like, just about the biggest one there is.”
He continued, “And she said that wasn’t true. They found that she lied about it. And the judge wasn’t even, I guess, letting it be put in as evidence. The whole thing is a scam. And it’s a shame, and it’s a disgrace to our country.”
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