This astronomical amount is broken down into $65 million in compensatory damages, $11 million in reputational damage, and $7.3 million in financial compensation.
Former US President Donald Trump was ordered by a New York civil court on Friday to pay $83.3 million to author E. Jean Carroll for defaming her while she was accused of rape in the 1990s .
The former President of the United States, who was campaigning for re-election, immediately expressed strong criticism on his social network truth social a “ridiculous” conviction and promised to appeal.
The heavy favorite in the Republican primaries and Joe Biden's most likely opponent in the November presidential election once again denounced “a Biden-led witch hunt against (him) and the Republican Party.”
This astronomical sum was decided by the popular jury Civil litigation filed by former journalist E. Jean Carroll, 80, against Donald TrumpThe 77-year-old is seeking $65 million in compensatory damages, $11 million in compensation for reputational damage and $7.3 million in financial compensation, according to American media present in the courtroom, including the New York Times and CNN.
Former president already convicted in another lawsuit
The jury recognized the intention to “harm” Donald Trump, whom the judge had already held responsible for the defamatory statements against E. Jean Carroll, who demanded at least $10 million in compensation for moral and professional damage.
Elizabeth Jean Carroll is a former columnist for the American edition of Elle magazine who accused Donald Trump of rape in the dressing room of a New York department store in 1996.
Due to another civil lawsuit in 2022 for rape and defamation, she had already found him guilty last May in a civil case for sexual assault 28 years ago and for defamatory statements in 2022.
Donald Trump was then ordered to pay $5 million in compensation. The total amount he will have to pay after the 2023 and 2024 trials is therefore more than $88 million.
Donald Trump leaves the courtroom… before returning
This second trial, solely for defamation, follows an initial civil lawsuit in 2019 and began on January 16 in an electric atmosphere, mostly in the presence of the former tenant of the White House.
As soon as the final hearings began on Friday, the tempestuous businessman suddenly stood up from his chair and jumped out of the courtroom, according to an AFP journalist. Elizabeth Jean Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, had just said that the former president of the United States “continued to defame her client throughout the trial.” However, Donald Trump returned to the courtroom afterwards.
“The man who sexually assaulted Ms. Carroll does what he wants: he lies, he defames,” thundered the lawyer, whom the septuagenarian continues to harm “on his powerful platform” Truth Social and its tens of millions of subscribers.
Twenty messages accusing E. Jean Carroll
In fact, on Friday the tycoon published around twenty messages in which he again accused E. Jean Carroll of making up “a FAKE story like Monica Lewinsky” – named after the White House intern scandal that almost took down President Bill Clinton At the end of the 1990s – and to “express” money.
On Thursday, the ex-president briefly defended himself in the trial, but his freedom of expression was strictly restricted by the judge in order to avoid verbal slip-ups.
He simply indicated with a “yes” that he had made the comments that were the subject of an initial complaint in 2019 against rape allegations that E. Jean Carroll had just made publicly for the first time in a book.
“She said something that I thought was wrong,” Donald Trump said.
“She 's sick”
But on Wednesday evening, he again launched 37 attacks on Truth Social against E. Jean Carroll, whom he continues to denigrate and insult, calling her “crazy” with a “false story” in which he has “never seen one.” (his life”.
“She’s sick,” he repeated during the procedure.
Judge Kaplan, who presided over the first trial last year, ordered that this second trial should focus only on Donald Trump's defamatory statements and not on the complainant's rape allegations.
In addition to this case, four criminal cases await the former President of the United States.