A jury in New York has returned a verdict in journalist Elizabeth Jean Carroll’s libel suit against Donald Trump – the former president must pay $83.3 million in damages. About the decision of the assessors reports The New York Times.
In 2019, Carroll published a column in which she talked about meeting Trump in a store in the mid-nineties. According to her, in the fitting room the billionaire forcibly kissed her, pulled off her underwear and raped her. In response to the publication, Trump said that he did not know Caroll and that she was “not his type.” During the interrogation, the journalist’s lawyers showed the politician a photograph from 1987, in which the journalist and her then-husband communicated with Trump and his wife; The Republican, looking at the photograph, confused Caroll and his first wife Ivana in it.
In May 2023, a jury found him guilty of sexual assault in another Carroll lawsuit—and awarded him a five million dollar fine.
After the verdict, Trump continued to publicly call Carroll’s words a lie. In court, the journalist spoke about the constant threats that Republican supporters sent her. The jury in the second trial – because of possible public pressure they were selected and deliberated anonymously – found his statements to be malicious. In their decision, they awarded Carroll not only damages to her reputation, but also an additional $65 million in punitive damages.
Trump called the process a “witch hunt” and “political persecution,” and the verdict a “total joke.” The politician said he would appeal against it.
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2024-01-26 22:31:00
