E. Jean Carroll exits the Manhattan Federal Court following the verdict in the civil rape accusation case against former U.S. President Donald Trump, New York City, May 9, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
A New York federal judge has denied former President Donald Trump’s request for a new trial regarding monetary damages in the high-profile case involving writer E. Jean Carroll. The jury had previously ordered Trump to pay $5 million for sexual abuse and defamation.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, in his decision, also rejected Trump’s attempt to significantly reduce the awarded amount. He stated, “The jury in this case did not reach ‘a seriously erroneous result,’ and its verdict is not ‘a miscarriage of justice.'” The trial concluded in May with Carroll’s lawsuit against Trump.
During the trial, the jury found that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan during a chance encounter in the mid-1990s. They also determined that Trump had defamed Carroll by denying her allegations.
Trump’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina has not yet responded to CNBC’s request for comment on the judge’s ruling. However, in a court filing, Tacopina amended his pending appeal of the jury’s verdict to include the appeal of Kaplan’s decision on damages.
In a statement, Carroll’s lawyer Robbie Kaplan said, “Now that the court has denied Trump’s motion for a new trial or to decrease the amount of the verdict, E Jean Carroll looks forward to receiving the $5 million in damages that the jury awarded her in Carroll II.” Carroll II refers to the specific lawsuit that led to this verdict.
Robbie Kaplan, who is not related to Judge Kaplan, added, “She also looks forward to continuing to hold Trump accountable for what he did to her at the trial in Carroll I, which is scheduled to begin on January 15, 2024.”
Carroll has accused Trump of defamation in Carroll I, where he publicly denied her rape allegations in 2019. Trump made these comments while he was still the president.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) abandoned its three-year effort to shield Trump from civil liability in Carroll’s first lawsuit. The DOJ had argued that Trump’s statements about Carroll were made in his capacity as president. However, they dropped this claim after a federal appeals court suggested that Trump could be personally sued if his statements were not made to serve the U.S. government’s interests.
The upcoming trial for Carroll I is scheduled to coincide with the start of the Republican presidential primary season next year, with Trump being the frontrunner for the GOP nomination.
In addition to the civil case, Trump is facing two criminal indictments. In one case, filed in Manhattan state court, he is accused of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. Trump has pleaded not guilty in this matter.
Furthermore, Trump faces numerous felonies in a federal court in Florida relating to his retention of classified government records upon leaving office, as well as his alleged obstruction of U.S. officials’ efforts to recover those records.
He has also pleaded not guilty in this case and has requested a trial delay until after the 2024 election.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump revealed that DOJ special counsel Jack Smith has informed him of being a target in a criminal investigation tied to Trump’s attempts to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
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