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Donald Trump's attorney Joe Tacopina was heckled and sworn at as he spoke to the media following the conclusion of the E. Jean Carroll court case.
A jury in the New York civil case found that the former president had sexually abused Carroll at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s, then defamed her character by branding her a "liar."
The jury, which deliberated for just under three hours on Tuesday, ruled that Trump must pay Carroll a total of $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The jury did not find Trump liable over allegations that he had raped Carroll, a former Elle columnist
The jury also determined that Trump defamed Carroll when he called her allegations a "con job" in an October 2022 Truth Social post. Closing arguments occurred Monday.
Trump, who was not present during the proceedings, has denied the accusations. In a post on Truth Social, he said the verdict was a "disgrace" and the "continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all-time."
Speaking to the media about the trial, Tacopina echoed Trump's sentiments that the former president could not get a fair trial in New York.
When asked about how quickly the jury deliberated, he said: " Yeah it was fast. I mean it is hard to see behind a jury door and I don't know what they were thinking.
"What people have been saying is that in New York you can't get a fair trial and people have said you lost the case when they announced the names of the litigants. "But again they found him not liable for rape."
A heckler can then be heard shouting over the reporters. The individual said: "You f****** neanderthal. F*** you, Tacopina.You f****** neanderthal."
Tacopina ignored the heckling and continued to answer questions by the press.
Tacopina continued to address the trial and suggested Carroll's claims were inconsistent. He concluded he was "a little perplexed" about the verdict.
As he closed the conversation with the media, Tacopina joked that he was going to go address his "fan" who was heckling him.
Another one of Trump's lawyers, Alina Habba, also reflected on the verdict and claimed the suit filed against the former president was an attempt to derail his 2024 campaign for the White House.
Speaking to CNN's Dana Bash on Tuesday night, Habba said: "There are things called justice. And people have the right to go to courts and go to prisons and go to police officers and say 'I was raped, I was assaulted.' That is your right and you should take that right if you were assaulted or if you were raped.
"What you are not allowed to do is say 'I don't have a year, I don't have a date. I'm not sure if it happened. I'm not sure when it happened. And guess what? It was in Bergdorf Goodman, but he lived across the street and nobody saw it.' And now you're 30 years deep."
Habba also dismissed Carroll's 2019 book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal, and said the allegations in the book were made for political reasons. She added that the filed lawsuit was due to the fact Trump was running for the White House again.
"When she first said it in 2019, she didn't like him as a candidate. And now she's gonna say it again when in 2024 when he's a leading candidate. You're not allowed to do that. That is un-American. So, no, this isn't about rape victims. This is about politics."
Newsweek has contacted Donald Trump via email for comment.
About the writer
Gerrard Kaonga is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter and is based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on U.S. ... Read more