Trump must pay $83 million to E Jean Carroll after ‘egregious’ defamation case, appeals court rules
A federal appeals court in New York has upheld a jury’s $83.3 million judgement against Donald Trump for defaming E Jean Carroll after the president claimed he was immune from liability.
Trump “failed to identify any grounds” to reconsider the case on the grounds of presidential immunity, and the jury’s verdict was “fair and reasonable” given the “unique and egregious facts of this case,” the appellate judges said Monday.
Last year, a unanimous jury returned a verdict awarding $83.3 million in damages to the former Elle magazine writer for the president’s defamatory statements during his first term in office and in the years that followed. A separate jury had already awarded Carroll $5 million in 2022 after finding Trump liable for sexually abuse and defamation.
In that case, Trump was found liable for sexually abusing Carroll and then smearing her allegations as a lie, which then fueled abuse messages and threats against her.
The jury in the second defamation case against him awarded Carroll more than $18 million in compensatory damages in addition to $65 million in punitive damages.
After a different panel of appellate judges refused to overturn the verdict in December, Trump appealed again, citing the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on presidential immunity to argue that he should be shielded from liability.
This is a developing story
