Donald Trump has to pay US author E. Jean Carroll a total of $83 million in damages. That could ruin the former US president.
Update from January 27th, 10:50 a.m.: E. Jean Carroll, meanwhile, celebrated the verdict against Donald Trump as a “great victory for every woman who stands up when she’s been pushed down and a great defeat for every tyrant who tried to keep a woman down.”
In a first trial last year, Trump was sentenced to five million dollars in damages and compensation for sexual abuse and defamation of the journalist. Carroll had sued Trump twice, which is why there were two lawsuits.
The now 80-year-old accuses Trump of raping her in a dressing room at the New York luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman in 1996. The long-time columnist for Elle magazine first made her accusation public in 2019, when Trump was president. The Republican then accused Carroll of lying and said she wasn’t his “type.”
Trump trial against Carroll in New York: Ex-president speaks of “witch hunt”
Update from January 27th, 9:00 a.m.: The verdict against Donald Trump was celebrated by opponents of the former president, analyzed by legal experts and sharply criticized by the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee for the White House and his loyal supporters.
Trump called the verdict “absolutely ridiculous” and claimed it was part of a “witch hunt” directed by Joe Biden against “me and the Republican Party” – even though the matter is a private lawsuit against Trump.
From his plane, while Carroll’s lawyers were still speaking, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Absolutely ridiculous! I strongly disagree with both rulings and will be appealing this entire Biden-driven witch hunt against me and the Republican Party. Our legal system is out of control and is being used as a political weapon. They have taken away all of our First Amendment rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!”
Trump trial in New York: “A great victory for every woman”
Update from January 27th, 5:15 a.m.: The jury of seven men and two women at a court in New York took around two hours to reach their decision: Donald Trump acted “maliciously” with his comments about Carroll, the ruling said German press agency Template.
Carroll’s lawyers had argued that only a large sum of money could stop Trump from further verbally attacking the author. “This is a great victory for every woman who stands up when she is pushed down and a great defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down,” Carroll said after the decision was announced. Trump described the verdict as “absolutely ridiculous” on the online platform Truth Social, which he co-founded. His lawyer Alina Habba announced that she would appeal.
Trump trial in New York: Ex-president disrupts the trial
Before the start of the second trial, Judge Lewis Kaplan had ruled that Trump’s later comments were defamatory. The jury now only had to decide on the amount of compensation that Trump had to pay. The $83.3 million is made up of $7.3 million in compensatory damages, $11 million in compensatory damages for a program to repair the author’s reputation and $65 million in so-called punitive damages, which will punish the convict and deter him from the behavior in the future should.
Trump appeared in person several times in the second trial – unlike the first, which he did not even attend – and attracted attention through numerous commenting opinions, which is why the judge had threatened to exclude him in the meantime. During the closing arguments on Friday, Trump even unexpectedly left the room temporarily without first asking the judge for permission. Trump’s lawyer Habba also repeatedly clashed with Judge Kaplan.
Trump must pay compensation: $83.3 million
First report: New York – Former US President Donald Trump has been sentenced to a further compensation payment of $83.3 million (around 77 million euros) in a second defamation trial in New York. This was decided by a jury on Friday, as US media unanimously reported. The US author E. Jean Carroll sued again.
It was the second civil lawsuit brought by 80-year-old US author E. Jean Carroll against Trump. The sum is many times higher than the more than ten million dollars demanded by Carroll.
At the end of the first trial in May, a New York jury found it proven that Trump had attacked Carroll in a luxury New York department store in 1996, sexually abused him and later slandered him. The jury then awarded the writer compensation of five million dollars (around 4.65 million euros).
Before the start of the second trial, Judge Lewis Kaplan had ruled that Trump’s later comments were defamatory. The jury now only had to decide on the amount of compensation that Trump had to pay.
How 83 million can bring down billionaire Trump
Forbes magazine estimates Trump’s fortune at $2.6 billion – and yet the compensation amounting to “only” $83 million could ruin him. That’s because the vast majority of Trump’s wealth consists of real estate. The former president apparently only has a very manageable amount of liquid assets. The situation is made worse for Trump by two other legal factors.
First of all, there is the New York public prosecutor’s office, which considers Trump’s real estate to be significantly overvalued. Among other things, Trump is said to have gotten better loan conditions from banks. New York Attorney General Letitia James has therefore charged Trump with fraud in another case. As part of this ongoing case, all properties in question in New York have been frozen by prosecutors. So Trump couldn’t sell them to get the 83 million that he now has to pay E. Jean Carroll.
Our justice system is out of control and is being used as a political weapon. […] THIS IS NOT AMERICA!
Trump wants to appeal this defamation verdict, as he announced on his own social network Truth Social immediately after the verdict was announced: “Absolutely ridiculous! I vehemently disagree with both rulings and will object to this entire witch hunt waged by Biden against me and the Republican Party.” But that could be extremely difficult for Trump, because in the state of New York the required amount of damages must be deposited in an escrow account in order to file an appeal. So Trump can only appeal if he has the 83 million in liquid assets – and that is known to be a problem for him.
The verdict in the libel trial against Jean Carroll could therefore have much more far-reaching consequences for Trump than might seem at first glance.
Trump wants to run in presidential elections
The 77-year-old Trump is considered the Republicans’ most promising candidate in the presidential elections scheduled for November. However, he currently has to deal with the courts in numerous different cases. Trump often uses the court dates as a kind of campaign event. (chel/dpa/AFP)