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Former President Donald Trump must pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defamatory statements he made against her in 2019, a jury determined late Friday afternoon.
The jury reached the verdict after deliberating for about three hours. Judge Lewis Kaplan reportedly advised jury members to not disclose their participation in the case as the trial adjourned in Manhattan.
Trump called the verdict “absolutely ridiculous” while en route to Nevada for a campaign event. “I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party,” he wrote in part on Truth Social.
The damages trial came to a close after days of at-times contentious moments in the courtroom since it kicked off last week. Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, accused Trump of assaulting her in a Manhattan department store changing room in the mid-1990s.
Last May, a New York City jury found Trump liable and ordered him to pay $5 million in damages for sexual abuse and defamation against Carroll, whose attorneys are seeking at least $10 million in additional damages after the former president said she was lying about her accusations, he has no idea who Carroll is and she was not his “type.” Trump, meanwhile, continues to deny any wrongdoing in the case.
From left, columnist E. Jean Carroll leaves Manhattan Federal Court on May 09, 2023, in New York City. Former President Donald Trump speaks at New York Supreme Court on January 11, 2024, in New York…
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