Federal Judge Rejects Trump’s Latest Bid to Drop E. Jean Carroll’s $83.3 Million Defamation Judgment

A federal judge rejected former President Trump’s latest attempt at a new trial, upholding the verdict and $83.3 million award in his defamation case against writer E. Jean Carroll.

In a written opinionDistrict Court Judge Lewis Kaplan said Trump’s arguments are “meritless.”

“Sir. Trump’s malicious and incessant attacks on Ms. Carroll were disseminated to more than 100 million people. They included public threats and personal attacks and endangered Ms. Carroll’s health and safety,” Kaplan wrote.

In January, a jury ordered him to pay $83.3 million to Carroll after Kaplan found he was liable for defamation. Last month, Trump demanded that he be given a new trial.

Carroll came forward with accusations that the former president sexually assaulted her in the 1990s, which prompted Trump’s statements.

In his opinion, Kaplan said the jury had the right to consider the degree of reprehensibility of Trump’s actions on social media to be high. He also said that Trump’s actions during the trial, including when he abandoned his closing arguments, vindicate the idea that he would not stop defaming her unless there was a “significant deterrent” such as a fine.

“Far from being purely ‘defensive,’ there was evidence that Mr. Trump used the office of the presidency — the loudest ‘bully pulpit’ in America and possibly the world — to issue multiple statements castigating Ms. Liar, insinuating that she it was unattractive to him to be sexually assaulted and threatening that she would ‘pay dearly’ for speaking out,” the judge wrote.

In a statement, Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, said she was pleased with the judge’s decision, but not surprised.

“As the Court explained, it was entirely reasonable for the jury to award E. Jean Carroll $83 million in damages, given Donald Trump’s continued defamation of Ms. Carroll during the trial itself, as well as her conduct in the courtroom where her ‘hate and disdain [were] on full display.’”

The Hill has reached out to Trump’s team for comment.