The former president of the United States, Donald Trump, posted on the Truth social network questioning the ruling of a federal jury that decided that the Republican leader must pay the journalist E. Jean Carroll more than $83 million in damages after Trump denied allegations of sexual assault against her in the 1990s.
“Absolutely ridiculous! I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party. Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!” Trump posted just minutes after the verdict was announced.
A long-standing case
The legal dispute between E. Jean Carroll and Trump has been going on for a long time and reached its peak last year when a federal jury in New York City decided that Trump was not responsible for rape, but was responsible for sexual abuse and defamation against the writer.
The former president was sentenced to pay $5 million in that trial. Carroll, who had alleged that Trump raped her in the dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store across from Trump Tower in Manhattan in 1996, was seeking $12 million.
However, Trump continued to deny Carroll's allegations, repeatedly stating that he had never seen the woman and did not know who she was. He appealed the first verdict against him, which led him to pay $5 million.
After the appeal, Carroll counterattacked Trump with a defamation lawsuit, claiming that his response caused damage to her reputation.
The jury was unforgiving toward Trump, finding that Carroll had her reputation hurt as a result of statements Trump made in 2019, while he was still president.
In total, the jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carrol: $7.3 million will be compensatory damages, $11 million will be for a reputation repair program and another $65 million will be punitive damages.
Meanwhile, Trump's legal team and the former president himself repeatedly complained about how the case was handled, accusing federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of conducting a biased trial in favor of Carroll.
