Jury orders $83.3 million judgment against Trump in Carroll defamation suit

A jury in New York City on Friday awarded E. Jean Carroll an $83.3 million judgement to be paid by Donald Trump for defaming her publicly on multiple occasions regarding rape allegations she made against the former president.

The judgment—by a 9-person jury with 7 men and 2 women—included $7.3 million in compensatory damages, $11 million designated for a reputational repair program, and a punitive portion—by far the largest—of $65 million.

As MSNBC reported from just outside the Manhattan courthouse:

According to the New York Times:

The award included $65 million in punitive damages, which the nine-member jury assessed after finding Mr. Trump, 77, had acted maliciously after Ms. Carroll’s lawyers pointed to Mr. Trump’s persisting in attacks on her, both from the White House and after leaving office.

On a single day recently, Mr. Trump made more than 40 derisive posts about her on his Truth Social website.

A civil jury in May of last year found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and subsequently defaming her, but Friday’s ruling was focused on Trump’s ongoing defamation that continued even after that judgment. The financial judgement in last year’s case was $5 million, but the much larger judgement on Friday could mean real financial pain for Trump.

“A jury concluded that $88 million would be enough to deter Trump from further defaming E. Jean Carroll,” said former prosecutor and legal expert Renato Marioti in response to the verdict. “I have my doubts.”