Jury Orders Trump to Pay E. Jean Carroll $83 Million for Defamation – WSJ

A federal jury ordered Donald Trump to pay more than $83 million in damages for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, handing the former president a financial and legal blow just as he moves closer to cementing the Republican nomination for November s presidential election.

The award by the Manhattan jury came after a trial in which Carroll accused Trump of shattering her reputation while he was president by denying her claims of sexual assault. The new award dwarfs the $5 million that a different federal jury awarded to Carroll last year after finding Trump liable for sexually assaulting her in the 1990s and then defaming her when he denied it in 2022.

The jury of seven men and two women reached its verdict Friday after less than three hours of deliberation. Trump, 77 years old, who had attended the trial earlier in the day, wasn t in the courtroom for the announcement. Carroll, 80, held hands with her lawyers before the verdict was read and then hugged them afterward. 

Carroll said the verdict was 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.

Trump in a statement called the verdict ridiculous and said he would appeal. Our legal system is out of control, and being used as a political weapon, he said.

via www.wsj.com

$83 million. That sounds fair if Trump actually raped her. Of course, we’ll never know, but to me it seems a bit unlikely. Oh, that’s eighty-three. I thought it was 8.3. Oh well.