Donald Trump, former president of USA and current candidate to return to power, was sentenced on Friday to pay 88.3 million dollars to the writer Elisabeth Jean Carrollfor having defamed her after being accused of rape in 2019, the judge in the case announced at the end of the jury’s deliberations.
The amount, which ended up being much higher than the 10 million that Carroll claimed, is the sum of 65 million dollars for damages and interest, 11 million in reparation for affecting his reputation and 7.3 million in financial compensationaccording to The New York Times and CNN.
The magistrate Lewis Kaplanin charge of the case, thanked the jury for their work in reaching the verdict, “my advice to you is that you never reveal having been part of this jury,” highlighted the judicial official, quoted by the AFP and Europa Press news agencies.
Last May, a court established that Trump had to pay up to $5 million in compensation to Carroll, who filed a new lawsuit against the magnate, requesting $10 million in damages.
The case dates back to the legal challenge that the plaintiff filed in 2019 before a state court against the far-right politician for defamation, due to the way in which He had denied a first accusation of rape after saying that “she was not his type” and that he did it to sell his book.
The writer’s testimony Elisabeth Jean Carroll
The journalist wrote in her book “Why do we need men?” that youTrump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan store fitting room in the mid-1990s.
According to her testimony, she met Trump on Fifth Avenue in New York and they went to a lingerie store in Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store. where she revealed that she had been raped.
Prior to the ruling, Trump withdrew from the New York court today in undisguised anger, while the final arguments were being heard.
He left the room when the Prosecutor’s Office presented its arguments in this case which he considers part of the Democratic Party plot to prevent his return to power if he wins next November’s elections in which the current president, Joe Biden, will try for a new term. Trump, who often calls Carroll “moronic” or “sick,” claimed that the journalist had invented the rape to “sell her new book.”
“It destroyed my reputation,” the complainant emphasized at trial.
Background and other charges of Donald Trump
This trial comes amid Trump’s renewed attempts to return to the White House as he faces other legal proceedings, such as his recent indictment for concealing a series of bribes paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for silencing an alleged sexual affair.
In May 2023, another jury had found him guilty of sexual assault and defamation, for which he was sentenced to pay $5 million to Carroll, although his lawyers appealed the ruling.
91 criminal accusations are pending against him in various courts, most related to his attempts to remain in power after the elections four years ago won by Democrat Biden, whose victory remains unrecognized.
Source: Ambito
