Trump lawyers ask for a NEW E. Jean Carroll sex abuse trial
Donald Trump on Thursday asked for a new trial in the civil case brought by E. Jean Carroll, in which a jury in Manhattan last month found the former U.S. president liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer and awarded her $5 million in damages.
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What is the recent development in the E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump?
In a filing in federal court in Manhattan, Trump's lawyers said the jury's $2 million award for the sexual abuse portion of the verdict was 'excessive' because the jury had found that Carroll was not raped, and that the conduct she alleged did not cause any diagnosed mental injury.
They also said the $2.7 million award for the defamation claim was 'based upon pure speculation.'
'The Court should order a new trial on damages or grant remittitur because contrary to Plaintiff's claim of rape, the Jury found that she was not raped but was sexually abused by Defendant during the 1995/1996 Bergdorf Goodman incident,' according to the defense lawyers.
'Such abuse could have included groping of Plaintiff's breasts through clothing, or similar conduct, which is a far cry from rape,' the lawyers wrote.
They put forward their own numbers, saying the award shouldn't exceed $400,000 for sex abuse, $100,000 for defamation and $368,000 for reputational harm.
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How much additional compensation is E. Jean Carroll seeking from Donald Trump?
Former President Donald Trump's lawyers asked a judge to toss out a $5 million jury award for damages to E. Jean Carroll. Carroll last month amended a separate defamation suit after Trump at a CNN town hall called her a 'whack job' and said the civil trial was 'rigged'
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What was Donald Trump's response to the additional damages sought by E. Jean Carroll?
The legal move comes as Trump faces the possibility of new federal charges over handling of national security documents after prosecutors were spotted at a federal courthouse in Miami where a grand jury has been meeting.
Carroll last month amended a separate defamation suit after Trump at a CNN town hall called her a 'whack job' and said the civil trial was 'rigged.'
A lawyer for Carroll, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement that Trump's arguments are 'frivolous.' Trump, the front-running Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential campaign, denies the allegations and has appealed the verdict.
Trump previously accused writer E. Jean Carroll of 'hanky panky' in her lawsuit against him
Trump claimed that E. Jean Carroll (second from left) used to call her husband John Johnson (center) an 'ape.' The ex-President is pictured with the couple and his first wife Ivana (right) at a party in the 1980s
Trump denied knowing Carroll. His videotaped deposition featured Trump mistaking him for his former wife, Marla Maples
Carroll's lawsuit, filed in 2022, said Trump raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York in the mid-1990s, and defamed her by denying it happened. Trump has called Carroll's claims a 'hoax.'
Two of Carroll's friends testified at trial that she told them about the rape after it occurred.
The trial also featured testimony from two women who alleged Trump assaulted them many years ago under similar circumstances, as well as taped deposition testimony by Trump in which he denies ever meeting Carroll.
Trump's lawyers told jurors that Carroll's narrative was implausible and said she had not provided evidence to back up her damages claims.
Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, filed a separate lawsuit in November 2019 for defamation only. That case has been bogged down in appeals over whether Trump was immune from being sued because he had been president when he spoke.
She filed her second lawsuit for both defamation and battery in 2022 after New York passed a law giving sexual assault victims a new window to sue even if the statute of limitations had passed.
Carroll in May sought to amend the first lawsuit with a claim for $10 million in additional damages over Trump's comments on CNN after the verdict, where he called the case a 'complete con job.'
Trump's lawyers said in the filing on Thursday that Carroll is seeking 'double recovery' with the second lawsuit.
They also argued that the jury's awards were out of proportion to similar cases, asking U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to reduce them if he rejects the bid for a new trial. Kaplan is not related to Carroll's attorney.
Trump once again blasted Carroll's allegations last month after she amended her suit following his CNN appearance.
'I don't know E. Jean Carroll, I never met her or touched her (except on a celebrity line with her African American husband who she disgustingly called the "Ape,"), I wouldn't want to know or touch her, I never abused her or raped her or took her to a dressing room 25 years ago in a crowded department store where the doors are LOCKED, she has no idea when, or did anything else to her, except deny her Fake, Made Up Story, that she wrote in a book,' Trump posted on his Truth Social website.