National Review
A Manhattan federal jury walloped Trump with an $83.3 million damages award for journalist E. Jean Carroll in the second civil trial arising out of her claims that he sexually assaulted her in the mid Nineties and then defamed her in denying it. The verdict, though not its staggering amount, was inevitable.
Trump failed to testify or even show up at the first trial last spring. Because the case is civil, not criminal, the first jury was told it could draw a negative inference against him.
He was found liable even though Carroll could not fix an exact year when the assault allegedly happened, and no supporting forensic evidence was admitted.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, a Clinton appointee, ruled prior to the second trial that Trump could not contest the first jury’s findings of sexual assault and defamation. Hence, even though Trump deigned to show up and briefly testify in the second trial—involving two remaining defamation claims—he could not truly defend himself.
The verdict appears excessive, given that in the first case, where sexual assault was at issue, the jury awarded Carroll just $5 million.
Trump will have to post the entire $83.3 million, plus interest, to appeal.
