E. Jean Carroll seeks more damages over Trump's CNN town hall comments

The former advice columnist's Monday filing stems from comments Trump made on a CNN town hall after the verdict in which he reiterated his denial of the event and contended that the trial had been unfair.

By Ben Whedon

Published: May 22, 2023 5:50pm

E. Jean Carroll on Monday is seeking additional damages from former President Donald Trump over comments he made on a CNN town hall disparaging her claims that he had raped in in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s.

Carroll previously brought a civil suit against Trump that specifically alleged battery and defamation, with the latter stemming from his denials of her claims. That jury in early May, awarded Carroll $2 million in damages from her battery claim, though the jury notably determined that Trump did not rape Carroll as she had claimed and characterized his behavior as sexual abuse. They further awarded her $3 million for the defamation count.

The former advice columnist's Monday filing stems from comments Trump made on a CNN town hall after the verdict, in which he reiterated his denial of the event and contended that the trial had been unfair.

The Monday filing said Trump's comments "show the depth of his malice toward Carroll, since it is hard to imagine defamatory conduct that could possibly be more motivated by hatred, ill will or spite," according to the New York Times. "This conduct supports a very substantial punitive damages award in Carroll’s favor both to punish Trump, to deter him from engaging in further defamation, and to deter others from doing the same."

Trump has maintained his denial of Carroll's account and his attorney, Joseph Tacopina, has filed a Notice of Appeal to begin the process of challenging the verdict.

Carroll's original case was made possible due to New York's Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily created a legal window for alleged victims of abuse to sue their attackers even if the statute of limitations has passed.

During the legal proceedings, Trump's legal team had challenged the partiality of the judge, seeking a mistrial on the grounds Judge Lewis Kaplan had repeatedly made "unfair and prejudicial rulings" against the former president. Kaplan denied that request.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.