While writer and former journalist E. Jean Carroll is now seeking an additional $10 million from former U.S. President Donald Trump, the latter is seeking a new trial or a reduction in damages. His lawyers argue that the $5 million civil damages sentence was "extremely excessive," according to CBS. The billionaire had already seen it as a "total scam".
On May 9, a federal jury in Manhattan found that the former president of the United States sexually abused the columnist in the 1990s and then defamed her by lying about it in October 2022. The jury unanimously ordered him to pay him $5 million in civil damages.
E. Jean Carroll recounted under oath at trial that Trump lured her into a fitting room in the lingerie department of Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York in 1995 or 1996, then pinned her against a wall and raped her. Two of the journalist's friends, who worked for the American ELLE, told jurors that she told them about the incident shortly after.
On May 10, the day after his sentencing, on CNN, Trump said he had "never met this woman" and called her story "false," a "lie," a "made-up story" by a "crazy woman." These statements, more or less the same as those made at the hearing, are the basis of the new request of the plaintiff's lawyers, who have been seeking an additional $23 million since May 10.
$2.7 million for defamation
Trump's lawyers argued in the new case that part of the $2 million in compensation was excessive because the jury did not find him responsible for rape.
Trump's lawyers have sought $2.7 million in compensatory damages for defamation based on "speculation" about how many people saw a defamatory message from Trump on social media in which he denied the allegation.
Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan told CBS News that Trump was trying to argue that Carroll "didn't deserve" the damages awarded to him, "even though he did those things."
