A New York grand jury ruled Friday that Donald Trump must pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll for defamation. Although District Judge Lewis Kaplan had already found the former president guilty, the nine jury members considered the damages in the case and quantified the sum above. However, Trump is in no rush to pay.
As reported by The New York Times, Trump will first exhaust appeal options before disbursing the $83.3 million, composed as follows: $11 million for a reputation repair program, $7.3 million in other compensatory damages, and $65 million in punitive damages.
The former president chose to be present in court during the trial and briefly took the stand as a final witness. He appeared in the courtroom every day except when he had to attend his mother-in-law's funeral.
Minutes after learning of the jury's decision, he expressed himself on his Truth Social account and promised to appeal. "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!" he wrote.
The verdict came in the middle of the Republican presidential primaries, which Trump has dominated so far. He won Iowa first by a resounding margin of 30 percentage points and New Hampshire by more than 10 points.
Now, he hopes to defeat Nikki Haley in South Carolina, a state where she already has the important support of Senator Tim Scott. According to polls, the former president could easily win at the polls.
