A jury ordered Donald Trump to pay Carroll $83 million for defaming her.
Former President Donald Trump, at the end of a five-day trial, has been ordered to pay $83.3 million in damages to former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll for defaming her in 2019 when he denied her allegations of sexual abuse.
Last year, in a separate trial, a jury determined that Trump was liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, and that he defamed her in a 2022 social media post by calling her allegations "a Hoax and a lie" and saying "This woman is not my type!"
Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has said he doesn't know who Carroll is.
Following Judge Lewis Kaplan's instructions to jury members, the jury has retired to deliberate.
The judge gave the parties 45 minutes to get lunch, so the court will not accept a jury note or a verdict until starting at 2:25 p.m. ET.
If there is no verdict by 4:30 p.m. ET, court will break for the day unless the jury signals a desire to stay later.
Former President Trump has made a post to his social media account attacking E. Jean Carroll and Judge Lewis Kaplan as proceedings continue in his damages defamations trial.
Trump, who left the courtroom during the plaintiff's closing statements but returned for the defense closings, repeated his claim in the post that he had never met Carroll, and accused her and the judge of having political motives.
In a brief rebuttal, Carroll's attorney Shawn Crowley accused Donald Trump's defense of advancing an antiquated argument that amounted to victim-shaming.
Reminding the jury Trump has already been found liable for assaulting and defaming Carroll, Crowley said that in the defense's eyes, "even though he did those things, even though Donald Trump does whatever he wants, any harm Ms. Carroll suffered is her fault for speaking out."
Crowley conceded more people know who Carroll is now, but she said that the idea that positive attention cancels out the harm Trump caused is "nonsense," and she asked the jury to reject the defense argument that Carroll is somehow better off.
"Ms. Carroll did not ask to be called a liar, she did not ask for death threats," Crowley said. "She did not ask to be accused of lying, of making up a story for money."
Defending Carroll's quirky personality and her conflicting testimony about her feelings, Crowley argued that Carroll should not have to prove she was a broken wreck of a person at all times, in order to collect damages.
"You can be wrecked inside and also feel moments of triumph. You can be sad and also feel proud when people stand beside you," Crowley said.
Crowley said Trump's defense amounted to "she asked for it," and asked the jury, "Are we really still doing that? Have we really not moved past that naïve idea?"
"He wants you to hold Ms. Carroll accountable for his actions," Crowley said of Trump. "He is not the victim."
Defense attorney Alina Habba, delivering her closing argument, showed the jury a series of caustic tweets to make the case that E. Jean Carroll failed to prove she suffered the kind of reputational harm she said Donald Trump caused.
"As you can see, the total number of views of all these tweets that they feel best represents their case is a total of 143 views," Habba said. "That's not evidence of reputational harm."
Habba accused Carroll of enjoying the attention her accusation has created. "Ms. Carroll loves her new reputation and her life. My client is not enjoying this," she said.
"Let's not forget Ms. Carroll is making more money now than she was in June 2019," Habba said.
Habba said that in 2019, Carroll had hit "financial and social rock bottom" and decided to climb her way back to a lavish lifestyle with celebrity friends by making a public accusation against Trump.
"She made an allegation in the most public form by design," Habba said, adding that Trump had repeatedly made his position clear.
That drew an objection from the plaintiffs that was sustained by the judge, since Trump is not allowed to cause the jury to doubt an earlier verdict that held Trump liable for sexual assaulting and defaming Carroll.
"It is established," Judge Kaplan said.
"It is established by a jury," Habba added.
"It is established, and you will not quarrel with me," the judge said.
When Habba resumed, she mocked the reputational repair expert who testified that rehabilitating Carroll would cost as much as $12 million -- particularly the idea that conservative commentators Joe Rogan and Candace Owens should be paid to help Ms. Carroll repair her reputation.
"What planet are we living on?" Habba said.
The plaintiff's rebuttal will follow the defense's closing.
