E. Jean Carroll, a US columnist who won a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation award against former President Donald Trump, is seeking at least $10 million more in damages. Her lawyers filed an amended lawsuit seeking the money in Manhattan, claiming that Trump’s remarks after the verdict have spoiled her reputation and caused her to lose her job. The lawyers accused Trump of “doubling down” on derogatory remarks about Carroll during a cable television appearance a day after the verdict. They argued that this conduct supports a substantial punitive damages award in Carroll’s favor, to punish Trump, deter him from engaging in further defamation, and deter others from doing the same.
A nine-person jury two weeks ago decided Trump had sexually abused Carroll at an upscale Manhattan department store in early spring 1996. While the jury didn’t find that Carroll had been raped, they did find that Trump had sexually abused her. Joe Tacopina, a Trump lawyer, declined to comment on the new claims.
The lawyers filed the new claims in amending a defamation lawsuit that was put on hold as an appeals court was deciding whether Trump could be held liable for remarks he made in 2019 while he was still president. The US Justice Department has supported his lawyers’ claims that the United States should be substituted as the defendant.
