HOME People & Events

Jury orders Donald Trump to pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in defamation trial

2024.02.05 04:28:11 Siyeon Kim
251

[Donald Trump. Photo Credit to Unsplash]

Donald Trump was ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in a defamation trial on January 26th.

 

Donald Trump is an American politician of the Republican party and formerly the 45th president of the United States.

 

In 2016, Donald Trump was running for president with his term “ Make America Great Again.”

 

During the election period, eight women insisted that Trump had sexually assaulted them.

 

Trump denied the claims from the women, strongly declaring that he did not even know them.

 

After Trump was elected president, rumors about him were suppressed by the White House.

 

However, in 2019, Elizabeth Jean Carroll claimed that she had been sexually assaulted by Donald Trump in a NewYork Magazine article.

 

Elizabeth Carroll is a writer and a former columnist for Elle magazine.

 

Her column 'Ask E. Jean' was published from 1993 to 2019, making it one of the oldest advice columns in the American publishing business.

 

She explained that Trump raped her inside the dressing room of a luxury Manhattan department store around early 1996.

 

Carroll’s shocking revelation affected public opinion despite Trump's constant denial of her claim, arguing that she was seeking the spotlight to sell her books.

 

Carroll accused Trump for sexual assault in 2019.

 

When Trump’s lawyers asked Carroll why she did not sue Trump back then, Carroll responded that she was afraid of the aftermath and gained bravery through the ongoing #MeToo movement.

 

Also, Carroll sued Trump for defamation again after his presidency.

 

Trump’s censorious public statements towards Carroll were the focus of her defamation suit.

 

In court, Trump showed disrespect towards Carroll and the judge.

 

He was restrained by the judge multiple times.

 

Carroll, who watched all of Trump’s actions in the court, said, “Donald Trump is unable to follow the law, unable to follow the rules, he thinks they don’t apply to him.”

 

Trump disapproved of all of Carroll’s claims as well.

 

Trump said, “I consider it a false accusation.”

 

However, the court accepted Carroll’s claims that Trump had raped her and had also tarnished her reputation.

 

Therefore, the court decided that Carroll would receive $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive retribution.

 

Trump was also sentenced to pay Carroll compensatory damages of $18.3m – $11m to fund a reputational repair campaign.

 

The $7.3 million is for the emotional harm caused by Trump’s 2019 public statements.

 

Compared to how Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in a separate trial last year, the punishments were much stricter this trial.

 

Trump seemed to be unpleasant with the decisions made, as he called the trial a “directed Witch Hunt” focused on him and the Republican Party.

 

Meanwhile, E. Jean Carroll praised her legal team and called the jury’s decision “a huge defeat" for anyone who has tried to keep down women.

 

“This is a great victory for every woman who stands up when she’s been knocked down, and a huge defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down,” Carroll said in the statement Friday evening.


Siyeon Kim / Grade 10
JungKyung High School