A jury awarded $83.3 million in huge additional damages on Friday to longtime advice columnist E. Jean Carroll from former President Donald Trump, who she says shattered her reputation and opened her to threats by calling her a liar who only accused him of sexual assault to sell a memoir.
The award, when coupled with a $5 million sexual assault and defamation verdict last year from another jury in a case brought by Carroll, raised to $88.3 million what Trump must pay her. Protesting vigorously, he said he would appeal.
Carroll clutched her lawyers鈥� hands and smiled as the seven-man, two-woman jury delivered its verdict. Emotional afterward, she shared a three-way hug with her attorneys. She declined comment as she left the Manhattan federal courthouse.
Trump had left the courthouse about a half hour before the verdict was read. He had remained for more than two hours while the jury deliberated.
鈥淎bsolutely ridiculous!鈥� he said in a statement shortly afterward. 鈥淥ur Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon.鈥�
Jurors deliberated less than three hours after the two-week trial.
It was the second time in nine months that a civil jury returned a verdict related to Carroll鈥檚 claim that a flirtatious, chance encounter with Trump in 1996 at Bergdorf Goodman鈥檚 Fifth Avenue store ended violently. She said Trump slammed her against a dressing room wall, pulled down her tights and forced himself on her.
In May, a different jury awarded Carroll $5 million. It found Trump not liable for rape, but responsible for sexually abusing Carroll and then defaming her by claiming she made it up. He is appealing that award, too.
Trump is also awaiting a verdict in a New York civil fraud trial, where state lawyers are seeking the return of $370 million in what they say were ill-gotten gains from loans and deals made using financial statements that exaggerated his wealth.
As for Trump鈥檚 ability to pay, he reported having about $294 million in cash or cash equivalents on his most recent annual financial statement, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021. Testifying at his civil fraud trial last November, he Trump boasted: 鈥淚 have very little debt, and I have a lot of cash.鈥�
Trump skipped the first Carroll trial. He later expressed regret for not attending and insisted on testifying in the second trial, though the judge limited what he could say, ruling he had missed his chance to argue that he was innocent. He spent only a few minutes on the witness stand Thursday, during which he denied attacking Carroll, then left court grumbling 鈥渢his is not America.鈥�
This new jury was only asked how much Trump, 77, should pay Carroll, 80, for two statements he made as president when he answered reporters鈥� questions after excerpts of Carroll鈥檚 memoir were published in a magazine 鈥� damages that couldn鈥檛 be decided earlier because of legal appeals. Jurors were not asked to re-decide the issue of whether the sex attack actually happened.
Carroll鈥檚 attorneys had requested $24 million in compensatory damages and 鈥渁n unusually high punitive award.鈥� The jury awarded $18.3 million in compensatory damages and another $65 million in punitive damages 鈥� meant to deter future behavior.
Carroll鈥檚 lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, urged jurors in her closing argument Friday to punish Trump enough that he would stop a steady stream of public statements smearing Carroll as a liar and a 鈥渨hack job.鈥�
Trump shook his head vigorously as Kaplan spoke, then suddenly stood and walked out, taking Secret Service agents with him. His exit came only minutes after the judge, without the jury present, threatened to send Trump attorney Alina Habba to jail for continuing to talk when he told her she was finished.
鈥淵ou are on the verge of spending some time in the lockup. Now sit down,鈥� the judge told Habba, who immediately complied.
The trial reached its conclusion as Trump marches toward winning the Republican presidential nomination a third consecutive time. He has sought to turn his various trials and legal vulnerabilities into an advantage, portraying them as evidence of a weaponized political system.
Though there鈥檚 no evidence that President Joe Biden or anyone in the White House has influenced any of the legal cases against him, Trump鈥檚 line of argument has resonated with his most loyal supporters who view the proceedings with skepticism.
Carroll testified early in the trial that Trump鈥檚 public statements had led to death threats.
鈥淗e shattered my reputation,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 am here to get my reputation back and to stop him from telling lies about me.鈥�
She said she鈥檇 had an electronic fence installed around the cabin in upstate New York where she lives, warned neighbors of the threats and bought bullets for a gun she keeps by her bed.
鈥淧reviously, I was known as simply as a journalist and had a column, and now I鈥檓 known as the liar, the fraud, and the whack job,鈥� Carroll testified.
Trump鈥檚 lawyer, Habba, told jurors that Carroll had been enriched by her accusations against Trump and achieved fame she had craved. She said no damages were warranted.
To support Carroll鈥檚 request for millions in damages, Northwestern University sociologist Ashlee Humphreys told the jury that Trump鈥檚 2019 statements had caused between $7.2 million and $12.1 million in harm to Carroll鈥檚 reputation.
When Trump finally testified, Kaplan gave him little room to maneuver, because Trump could not be permitted to try to revive issues settled in the first trial.
鈥淚t is a very well-established legal principle in this country that prevents do-overs by disappointed litigants,鈥� Kaplan said.
鈥淗e lost it and he is bound. And the jury will be instructed that, regardless of what he says in court here today, he did it, as far as they鈥檙e concerned. That is the law,鈥� Kaplan said shortly before Trump testified.
After he swore to tell the truth, Trump was asked if he stood by a deposition in which he called Carroll a 鈥渓iar鈥� and a 鈥渨hack job.鈥� He answered: 鈥�100 percent. Yes.鈥�
Asked if he denied the allegation because Carroll made an accusation, he responded: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 exactly right. She said something, I consider it a false accusation.鈥� Asked if he ever instructed anyone to hurt Carroll, he said: 鈥淣o. I just wanted to defend myself, my family, and frankly, the presidency.鈥�
The judge ordered the jury to disregard the 鈥渇alse accusation鈥� comment and everything Trump said after 鈥淣o鈥� to the last question.
Earlier in the trial, Trump tested the judge鈥檚 tolerance. When he complained to his lawyers about a 鈥渨itch hunt鈥� and a 鈥渃on job鈥� within earshot of jurors, from the courtroom if it happened again. 鈥淚 would love it,鈥� Trump said. Later that day, Trump told a news conference Kaplan was a 鈥渘asty judge.鈥�
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