MANHATTAN (CN) — As Trump’s criminal trial continues in Manhattan state court, a New York federal judge on Thursday denied the former president’s request for a new trial in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against him.
A nine-member jury awarded Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, $83.3 million in damages in January after a finding Trump mocked her after she accused him of raping her in the lingerie section of Bergdorf Goodman decades ago.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, a Bill Clinton appointee, found Trump’s motion was “entirely without merit,” adding that the jury was entitled to award Carroll $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages.
In assessing the compensatory damages, Kaplan said the jury correctly assessed that Trump acted with malice in making false statements about Carroll after she revealed in her book “What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal” and an excerpt published in New York Magazine that Trump raped her.
“The jury was entitled to conclude that Mr. Trump derailed the career, reputation, and emotional well-being of one of America’s most successful and prominent advice columnists and authors — to which she testified repeatedly — and award her $18.3 million in compensatory damages,” Kaplan said in his decision.
In Trump’s motion for a new trial, he claimed Carroll’s compensatory damages were awarded solely for her emotional distress and were excessive.
But Kaplan rejected Trump's arguments, pointing out the then-president's “malicious and unceasing attacks” on Carroll were disseminated to more than 100 million people.
“They included public threats and personal attacks, and they endangered Ms. Caroll’s health and safety,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan found the compensatory damages awarded are far from a “historical anomaly in New York,” and that’s without considering the unique nature of Trump’s position as president of the United States at the time.
When assessing the punitive damages, Kaplan similarly said the jury reasonably assessed the “reprehensibility” of Trump’s conduct in court.
“Mr. Trump’s continued defamation of Ms. Carroll — even during the course of trial — in turn warranted a finding that he would not stop attacking Ms. Carroll unless faced with a significant deterrent, a critical function of substantial punitive damages awards," Kaplan said.
Kaplan found Trump’s actions were far from being defensive and suggested he used his position as a former president to repeatedly defame Carroll as the trial went on.
“The jury could have found that Mr. Trump wielded his position as arguably the most powerful and famous man in the world to broadcast his lies to millions of dedicated followers in an effort to destroy Ms. Carroll’s credibility, to punish her for coming forward, and to deter other women from doing so as well,” Kaplan said. “It could have found also that he continued his attacks over the nearly five years that it took this case to come to a jury verdict.”
He pointed to instances during trial when Trump could be heard repeatedly complaining to his counsel about the proceedings, including during Carroll’s testimony when Trump made audible comments that he thought the proceedings were a “witch hunt” and a “con job.”
Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's attorney, applauded the ruling.
"We are pleased with though not surprised by the court’s decision today denying Donald Trump’s motions for a new trial and judgment as a matter of law," Kaplan said in a statement. "As the court explained, it was entirely reasonable for the jury to award E. Jean Carroll $83 million in damages given Donald Trump’s continued defamation of Ms. Carroll during the trial itself, as well as his conduct in the courtroom where his ‘hatred and disdain [were] on full display.’”
Additionally, Kaplan pointed to an instance when Trump walked out of the courtroom during closing arguments without explanation.
Trump also argued Kaplan provided flawed jury instructions and failed to specify that the jury had to determine it was Trump’s sole intent to injure Carroll by denying her account of the assault. But Kaplan rejected these claims, finding the jury did not have to find intent to injure was Trump’s sole motive in order to award damages.
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