Aaron's reporting right now. The Manhattan federal court on Friday
ordered Donald Trump to pay E Jean Carroll
$83.3 million for defaming her.
Now the jury filled, according to
Katersky's reporting, broke that up into two categories.
They awarded
18.3 million in compensatory damages and
65 million in punitive damages.
And you know, obviously this is a ruling that didn't
take,
as you noted, long for this jury to get to.
Took him just under 3 hours.
Donald Trump not court for that,
but that is a remarkable number.
I mean they were looking for about 10 million
but then to see on the punitive damages from particular
and Brian would know far better than me.
I mean, that's really the jury weighing Donald Trump's statements.
And clearly that is a number that really added a
gut punch to Donald Trump film.
And I want to bring Brian back in.
So Brian, you had said this was,
you know, an option, especially if it's a shorter
deliberation. They went above what Aging Carroll was asking for,
and it's 83.3 million total.
It's a message, right? It's a message that you said
a jury in a case like this could send.
Yeah. So think about it this way.
Compensatory damages, those are the damages that are calculable,
that aging perils attorneys brought forth through this Northwestern University
professor and that was anywhere from 7 to
$12.1 million to to repair a reputation.
But like I said earlier,
the punitive damages, that's what I was really looking for
because that's to punish,
that's to send a message.
So when you're going off in front of the judge
and you're walking out in the middle of summations,
when you're seeing that the person who is on trial
for defamation keeps defaming,
it's meant to be a deterrent,
It's meant to be punished and they punished hard.
I knew it would be a lot.
I did not think it would be in the $65
million range,
but to your point, that is a message.
Yeah, a message. And so Brian,
let's let's bring in Aaron Katersky.
We understand Aaron is now in front of the camera,
out there in in in front of the courthouse.
Aaron, we've got your reporting
just ahead of seeing you on camera because emails come
come quicker.
But tell us what it was like and how it,
how it happened.
It took the jury less than 3 hours to reach
this verdict.
Phil
$83.3 million The jury said Donald Trump should pay to
E Jean Carroll for making defamatory statements about her in
June 2019 after he accused her of sexual assault.
The jury found not only were the the statements
were they were they damaging to to E Jean Carroll.
They said that Trump said them with ill will,
spite with vindictiveness, wanton, reckless or willful disregard of Miss
Carroll's rights.
And so, in addition to the
$18.3 million in compensatory damages,
they awarded $65 million in punitive damages.
Earlier in the day, Carol's attorneys had asked the jury
to think about how much money it would take to
make Donald Trump stop defaming E Jean Carroll because,
they said Phil, his defamatory statements continued well beyond June
2019.
They counted well over 100 times they said,
when Trump during the trial said defamatory and disparaging things
about her.
And so this is what the the jury took to
be just punishment.
And Aaron, take us into the courtroom.
Tell us what, how, how quiet it was when there's
a when there's a jury verdict delivered like this,
you can hear a pin drop.
I'm wondering what it was like there
in federal court when this was delivered.
Former President Trump was not in the room.
He had been at court for much of the day,
including walking out when one of the plaintiff's attorneys was
delivering a closing statement,
but he was not there when the verdict was read.
His attorneys, Lena Haba, Michael Medeo sat at counsel table,
His criminal attorney Susan Necklace behind them,
and E Jean Carroll sat up front of the plaintiff's
table in between her two attorneys,
Roberta Kaplan and Sean Crowley.
And when the jury was polled,
meaning when the judge asked each of the 9 jurors
1 by 1 to affirm that this in fact was
their verdict,
E Jean Carroll smiled at them.
She was clearly pleased with this outcome.
The plaintiffs had not put a specific dollar figure in
the jurors heads,
but they said repairing the damage to her reputation
would cost about 12 million.
They said she deserved at least another 12 million for
all of the the the attacks and and the fear
and the terror that that had caused her.
And then they asked for and untold millions more in
punitive damages to punish Donald Trump,
to make him stop, as they put it.
And that's what the jury came up with,
this $83.3 million figure. Before we get to Brian with
with what happens now, I want to bring John back
in because John,
I want to ask you this.
I I just want to ask you the question.
They were looking for a number that would get Donald
Trump to stop defaming,
EG Carroll. Do you think
83.3 million is that number?
I I, I mean, you better believe it because listen,
Donald Trump at the moment,
you know, and and Aaron and the team have been
covering this as well,
Phil, Donald Trump at the moment is also facing a
potential gigantic bill from the state of New York depending
on what the verdict is in that attorney general's case
we were talking about a couple of moments ago.
So you know, the bills are adding up for Trump,
right, Because in that case they're seeking over $300 million.
So and all these number up,
we're approaching half of billion dollars that Donald Trump may
be out on.
That is not enough money at the moment in the
campaign coffer to cover all of this.
You know that is a number though you have to
also recognize that Donald Trump,
you know for the company at the moment the company
is stable but it's not a company that's growing,
right. This is not Donald Trump 2015 cutting the ribbon
at the new hotel in Washington DC If anything the
company has been shrinking since Donald Trump left the White
House. They've sold hotel. They sold property.
They just stole the business that they had in the
over the Whitestone Bridge here in New York Golf Club
they held there.
You know this is a a different world order for
Donald Trump and under siege and and you know,
listen we know Donald Trump likes to brag that he's
really,
really rich. You know a couple
$100,000 here is one thing but nearly $100 million that's
a whole different ball game Phil.
It is. And and and
Brian, I want to bring you back in because
Donald Trump has a history in court cases of delaying
and appealing
what can be done now on his behalf?
Does he have to this afternoon write a check for
83.3? Does he have the right to appeal it?
How far can he go?
How long can this be delayed?
So what I'll say is it's one thing to win
a civil case,
it's another thing to get paid.
We already know that he's appealing the initial case that
found him liable,
and that case was used as a way to start
this proceeding.
So he's going to argue until his original appeal is
resolved,
he shouldn't have to pay here,
and that might be a very strong argument.
He's of course going to
appeal the dollar amount here and that appeal process will
take some time.
Let's say the appeal process does finish in whatever amount
of time it takes because
as you said, Donald Trump has the history of this
and he's pretty good at it as well.
Then you get to the point of what's next.
Typically after a civil win like this,
you get an attorney letter.
Your attorney sends the the letter to Donald Trump saying
hey it's a penny by this date if they don't
pay.
Then you could start thinking about garnishing whether it be
wages or or income or investments,
starting to put liens on their property or how or
high value assets.
But the process takes time,
and I bet you it's going to take more than
10 months.
And I think a lot of what Donald Trump is
attempting to do is delay,
delay, delay until we get to the election.
And his hope is that he wins.
And if he wins, he got the possibility of delaying
for another four years because how can he be paying
out this money when he is,
quote on quote, serving the country?
So it's really a process of kicking the can.
And this is not going to end today.
I think it's another battle.
I'm trying to get the money in the days following
and I want to bring Aaron back in from out
outside the courthouse.
Aaron, what what happens now in terms of
are the attorneys going to come out and speak?
Did you gauge their reaction when you were in court
as well?
Because obviously aging Carroll's attorneys have to be very happy
with this verdict.
They got way more than they were asking for.
But as Brian just pointed out,
it's it's not a done deal.
It's not a done deal,
and nobody knows that better than EG and Carroll after
she won an earlier award of $5 million from Trump
in a trial last May.
The former president is appealing the outcome,
so she hasn't seen the money,
but it is waiting in escrow at an account here
at the courthouse.
So former President Trump may have to do something similar
here with now
$83.3 million Trump has already left.
We know his attorneys are here.
Whether they're prepared to speak on his behalf,
we're not sure. But we know that defense attorney Alina
Haba has been eager to speak at the conclusion of
this case because she feels she and the former president
have been mistreated by Judge Lewis Kaplan,
who runs an extraordinarily tight ship.
We know that E Jean Carroll,
who is now 80 years old,
did something of a victory lap
last May. Whether she's prepared to make statements now or
or later,
we're not sure in the company of her attorneys,
Roberta Kaplan, Sean Crowley. But they should be coming out
soon.
Court has adjourned. Everybody has left the rooms
and and now all that's left is
to to see what Mr.
Trump is prepared to do and and and whether you
know E Jean Carroll is is now celebrating.
But Phil, this is a a vindication for her.
She testified during the course of the trial over several
days that former President Trump's lies
affected her. They unleashed, as she put it,
an avalanche of of fear and anguish and terror.
She was left with death threats that she says had
not stopped.
She keeps a pit bull at her house.
She sleeps with a gun by her bed.
And she said that's what her life has been like
ever since she went public with her accusation against the
former president in 2019.
The defense believed that all of that was overblown,
that Betty Jean Carroll was enjoying the attention and then
if she didn't want
to, to have this scorn heaped upon her,
well then she shouldn't have been so public with her
allegation.
And and Carol's attorney said that that was like victim
shaming and and an antiquated view.
Are we really still doing that to tell a woman
to keep silent if she is sexually assaulted?
That was what the jury was weighing as they came
up with this dollar figure in fairly short order and
under 3 hours of deliberations.
And John, I want to know what happens next politically.
And you you you cover this very closely.
I think we see Jean Carroll there
with her attorneys just through
the doors there at the at the New York City
courthouse.
It looks like she's making her way out.
So we're going to watch this as I ask you
this question,
John, but I might want to jump back in because
she may come to the cameras.
So let me just let me just talk for just
a minute.
Here she comes. Here she
comes. Can you come to me,
Phil? Yeah. Aaron, we're with you still.
Go ahead. Eugene Carroll. Eugene Carroll is now emerging from
the court.
She's in the company of her attorney,
Roberta Kaplan, who has her arm around E Jean Carroll.
They're in sunglasses and wearing a white coat.
On the other side of her is her other attorney,
Sean Crowley. Big smiles on their faces as they pause
to have their picture taken not only by the assembled
reporters,
but by a number of onlookers.
Every time E Jean Carroll has been in court,
along with the former president,
it is certainly drowned a crowd of onlookers.
She is not going to pause at the microphones.
Instead she is getting into a waiting car.
But clearly pleased by this
$83.3 million jury award following the four day trial here
in lower Manhattan Field.
Yeah, and Aaron, if you can see the the
the world's media is there.
You know, anytime the former president is involved in a
court case,
there are a lot of eyes on it,
lot of attention on it.