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The woman who successfully sued former President Donald Trump for $88.3 million could sue him again in Georgia and New York for more defamatory comments, a criminal defense attorney said.
Georgia-based Keith Johnson was reacting to comments Trump made over the weekend about retired journalist E. Jean Carroll at a Georgia campaign rally on March 9 and in an interview on CNBC, which is based in New York.
In May 2023, Carroll successfully sued Trump for $5 million for sexual assault and defamation. The jury accepted Carroll's testimony that Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and then defamed her in comments when she filed a case against him.
She sued him again for other comments he made about her, and in January, a jury awarded her $83.3 million in damages.
Johnson told Newsweek he sees two possible new defamation cases.
"Mr. Trump made two possibly defamatory statements referencing E. Jean Carroll's allegations against him in the past week," Johnson said. "The first comments were in Rome, Georgia, where he said: 'I just posted a $91 million bond on a fake story—totally made up.' Then, he repeated similar comments on CNBC, which is based in New York, when he said: 'I don't know who that is...I got sued. Wow, that's crazy,'" Johnson said.
Newsweek sought email comment from attorneys for Trump and Carroll on Wednesday.
Johnson, who was named one of the Top 100 Criminal Defense Attorneys in the United States by the National Trial Lawyers Association, said that if Carroll sues again in New York, the case would likely be transferred to Lewis Kaplan, the judge in the first two Carroll cases.
"Ms. Carroll's lawyers can choose to file suit in the Northern District of Georgia based on Mr. Trump's comments in Rome, Georgia," Johnson said. "However, Mr. Trump's CNBC comments present an opportunity for Ms. Carroll's attorney to file suit in the Southern District of New York. The case would likely be assigned to the Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who is the same judge who presided over his recent trials."
He believes Trump could argue that his most recent comments have not added damage to Carroll's reputation.
"The Trump team will argue that even if this is defamatory, Ms. Carroll has suffered no new damages by Mr. Trump's latest comments since the case has been in the public sphere for several years," he said. "Additionally, they will argue she cannot show additional harm to her reputation."
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more