E. Jean Carroll 'Flabbergasted' at Donald Trump's Lack of Power at Trial

E. Jean Carroll said on Monday that she was shocked by the lack of power former President Donald Trump showed at their recent trial.

While speaking about the recent defamation hearing during an interview with CNN's This Morning, Carroll said the former president "was nothing, just no power. He was zero."

"I was flabbergasted," she added.

The Context

Trump was ordered last week to pay Carroll $83.3 million for defamatory statements he made about her in 2019. A jury in Manhattan had found Trump liable in September 2023 for defaming Carroll for comments he made about sexual assault allegations brought by the former Elle columnist.

Trump was previously found liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and was ordered to pay her $5 million in May 2023.

"Absolutely ridiculous! I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social responding to the ruling. "Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.

Trump, the current frontrunner for the Republican Party nomination in the 2024 election, denied any wrongdoing in the case brought by Carroll, telling The Hill in 2019 that she was not his "type."

What We Know

During her appearance on CNN's This Morning, Carroll said that Trump was "nothing."

"It's just the people around him that give him power. It's the emperor without clothes," Carroll said. "The courtroom was not a courtroom for him, it was a campaign stop, that was clear. We had two different objectives. Ours was to win a case, his was to win voters. We'll see how that plays out."

"He's using me to win voters," Carroll added.

Carroll also mocked Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, on Monday, saying that she had "ludicrous confidence."

"Alina Habba is gloriously talented. She's very skilled. She has ludicrous confidence, and when you hear her speak, we understand most of what she just said was entirely made up. Entirely untrue," Carroll said on CNN.

Views

In a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, Glenn Kirschner, a former assistant U.S. attorney turned legal analyst known for his criticism of Trump, wrote, "The result in the 2nd E. Jean Carroll case is important foreshadowing for Trump's upcoming criminal trials. When cases move from the court of public opinion into courts of law, Trump loses."

"Here's the thing: the rules of evidence don't apply in the court of public opinion. So Trump lies every day in his desperate attempt to continue to deceive & grift from his ever-shrinking gaggle of supporters. But...the rules of evidence, the rules of procedure, & the rule of law all apply inside courtrooms. And what did we see just yesterday - Trump LITERALLY can't handle the truth, given that he stormed out of the courtroom when Ms. Carroll's attorney told the jury that ...Donald Trump is a liar who acts like the rules don't apply to him," Kirschner said.

Jeff Clark, who Trump chose to serve as assistant attorney general of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, called the damages "punitive" and that the verdict was a "travesty of justice."

What's Next

Trump is currently facing several other legal battles following two federal indictments by Special Counsel Jack Smith for allegations related to the 2020 election and the mishandling of classified documents found at the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence. Additionally, Trump is facing a civil fraud trial in New York City, brought by Attorney General Letitia James, and another alleged election interference trial in Fulton County, Georgia.

Trump is also in the process of appealing the verdict in the Carroll case.

Update 1/29/24, 10:29 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.

Update 1/29/24, 9:49 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.