In a truly unhinged interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow a week and a half ago, E. Jean Carroll’s #MeToo lawyer teased new legal action to collect even more money on behalf of her client due to what she framed as further defamation following the recent New York jury award for defamation.
CNN:
E. Jean Carroll asked a court to amend the defamation suit she filed against Donald Trump, former president of the United States. She wanted to add punitive damages for his repeated statements during a CNN Town Hall.
In a letter sent to the judge, the request was made for clarification on the original lawsuit after a civil jury found that Trump had sexually abused Carroll earlier this month and awarded her $5 million.
Carroll’s lawyers said that Trump’s repeated defamatory remarks during the town hall meeting earlier this month directly relate to punitive damages. Punitive damages are meant to punish those found responsible.
Carroll’s first lawsuit was delayed on appeal. It relates to remarks Trump made while he served as president in 2019. The trial concerned a statement Trump had made in 2022.
Just before the trial, an appeals court returned the original lawsuit to the lower court judge. The judge will decide if the case proceeds.
Carroll claims that the former President was raped in Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s. He then defamed Carroll when he denied the claim, told her she wasn’t her type, and suggested that she made it up to boost the sales of her new book.
It is absurd to use the term “defamation”, to describe claims of innocence. In the United States, I am aware that people who have been convicted of criminal or civil crimes are allowed to maintain their innocence. It is absurd that the courts would entertain this idea.
There’s no way to know – and the corporate state media doesn’t bother to say – exactly what Trump said at his CNN Town Hall event that was defamatory. The transcript of Trump’s comments, which were answers to the moderator questions, reveals that his remarks (which, incidentally, are denials of the rape allegations) combine with a number of generic (and objectively correct) observations about E. Jean Carroll.
CNN’s transcript of the event is available:
TRUMP: You cannot have a fair trial in Washington, D.C. You can’t have a fair trial in New York City either.
COLLINS: In New York, let me ask you a question about an important verdict that was handed down yesterday. I know you’d like to comment on this as well.
Manhattan jury finds –
TRUMP: Sure.
COLLINS: – that you sexually abused and defamed the writer, E. Jean Carroll.
You have denied this.
What do you tell voters who claim that you are no longer eligible to be president because of this?
TRUMP: There weren’t many because my poll numbers have just come out. They went up okay?
I believe – I think I’m a – I’m the only one in history to have had an accusation like that. And usually, when you leave your office, you say I’m sorry, but I’m returning home. I am going back to my family. I will resign.
The fake charges and my poll numbers both went up because they are doing this to interfere with elections.
I’ve never met her. I never met her. I don’t know who she is. I have a photo taken with her and John Johnson, a nice guy.
He was a very nice newscaster. She called him an “ape” and he happens to be African American. The judge would not allow us to include the phrase “Called him an ape”.
The judge would not allow her to include that. He can’t put all these things in, but she is allowed to.
COLLINS: It was a jury consisting of nine people that found you to be –
TRUMP: That’s right.
COLLINS:- liable for sexual abuse. Do you believe that this will discourage women from voting for your party?
TRUMP: I don’t believe it because I consider the entire thing.
I never met this woman. I never saw this woman. This woman said I met her at the front door of Bergdorf Goodman which I never go into other than for a couple of charities. I met her at the front door. She was about 60 years. This is like 22, 23 years ago.
I met her at the front door of Bergdorf Goodman. I was immediately attracted to her and she was immediately attracted to me. And we had this great chemistry.
We’re walking into a crowded department store. We had this great chemistry. And a few minutes later, we end up in a room, a dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman, right near the cash register.
And then she found out that there were locks on the door. She said I found one that was open. She found one, she learned this at trial. She found one that was open.
What kind of woman brings someone up, and then within minutes you’re playing around in the dressing room? I don’t remember if she married or not. John Johnson, John Johnson, you make me feel bad.
