“He's wearing something,” Carroll said of seeing Trump in court.
Three days after a jury awarded Donald Trump more than $83 million for a series of defamatory statements, columnist E. Gene Carroll vowed that money “Donald Trump hates.”
“If it hurts him to pay for some things, that's my intention,” Carol told George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America,” adding, “I would create a fund for women who were sexually assaulted by Donald.” Trump.”
After a two-week trial, a jury took less than three hours Friday to award Carroll more than $83 million in damages for two defamatory statements by the former president in 2019 alleging Trump sexually assaulted her. She in 1996.
A separate jury last year found Trump sexually harassed and defamed Carroll and awarded her $5 million.
Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations since 2019 and attended five days of defamation hearings, including testifying to double down on his claims. On Friday, he vowed to appeal the verdict.
Sitting feet away from Trump in court for five days, Carroll described her fears leading up to the investigation into her communications with the former president washed away once the trial began.
“He was like nothing, like an emperor without clothes,” Carroll said. “All my fear was leading up to it, and there he is. He's wearing something.”
Trump's appearance at the trial — after missing last year's hearing — briefly interrupted proceedings, including the former president muttering defamatory statements out of the jury's ear or walking out during closing statements by Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan.
However, Kaplan said Trump's behavior only confirms the central thesis of his case that Trump is “a bully who can't follow the rules.”
“I definitely thought we got a few million more dollars right away,” Kaplan said of Trump leaving the courthouse during his closing statement. “I was like, it's worth about $10 million.”
Hours after Trump left court, the jury returned their unanimous verdict and $83.3 million award. As the jurors left the courtroom, Carroll and his attorneys held hands and exchanged smiles with some of the jurors.
“It brought me to tears because they met my eyes for the first time,” Carroll said of seeing the jurors.
Kaplan added that he believed they could collect the $83.3 million, explaining that Trump could post a bond or deposit the money in full pending his appeal.
“I'm very confident one way or the other. We might not get it right away. But one way or another, he's got a lot of real estate. It can be sold. We'll collect the judgment,” Kaplan said.
Although Trump has not mentioned Carroll by name since the day of the verdict, Carroll said he did not believe the former president would refrain from defaming him, and his attorney said “all options are on the table” if Trump decides to defame his client. Again.
“If we have to bring another lawsuit, we'll bring another lawsuit and it's going to cost more money,” Kaplan said.
