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E. Jean Carroll would "absolutely" sue Donald Trump again if he continues to post about her online, she has said.
On Friday, a New York City jury ordered that the former president must pay $83.3 million in damages to Carroll, a journalist, for statements made in 2019. He said she was lying about allegations that he sexually assaulted her inside a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s. That amount includes $7.3 million in compensatory damages, $11 million for reputational repair, and $65 million in punitive damages.
Trump was previously ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages last year in another civil defamation trial stemming from a denial he made about her claims in 2022. He has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing and has said he will appeal the verdict. Newsweek contacted a representative for Trump by email to comment on this story.
On Monday night, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow asked Carroll about Trump's post-trial behavior. She said he has been posting links online to articles that attacked the journalist and denied her claims.
Maddow said: "If it came to it, if your lawyers told you there was another case and you should go back and get more money out of him would you do it?"
"Absolutely," Carroll replied. "Absolutely."
In the same interview, Carroll described how she and her legal team were "laughing and crying all at the same time" after winning the case against Trump.
"I feel that this bodes well for the future. I think we have planted our flag. I think we have made a statement that things are going to be different, that there's going to be a new way of doing things in this country because of this indestructible team of lawyers," Carroll said.
"Together, this team of brilliant young people stood up to the man, who, by the way, Rachel, is not even there. He's nothing, he is like a walrus snorting and like a rhino flopping his hand," Carroll added.
Earlier in the day Carroll mocked the "ludicrous confidence" of Trump's lawyer in the case, Alina Habba, during an interview on CNN.
"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 told the channel.
She also said on CNN that she was "flabbergasted" at the lack of power Trump showed during the trial, saying, "he was nothing, just no power. He was zero."
Experts have suggested the damages payout will cause Trump, the GOP frontrunner, to experience a cashflow problem, especially when combined with the damages he is expected to pay in his civil fraud trial.
In September, Judge Arthur Engoron issued a partial summary judgment in the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruling that Trump and top executives at The Trump Organization committed fraud. Engoron held that Trump grossly inflated the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms from lenders and insurers. He will now rule on how much the Republican will pay in damages, as well as rule on six other accusations—including falsifying business records, insurance fraud and conspiracy claims. James is seeking the return of $370 million in profits Trump made.
Update 1/30/24, 3:30 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
About the writer
Kate Plummer is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. politics and national affairs, and ... Read more