Donald Trump Keeps Digging a Deeper Hole for Himself
Donald Trump is showing no sign that he's willing to stop his attacks on former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll, despite the former president putting himself at risk of further lawsuits.
Carroll successfully sued Trump for sexual battery over claims he assaulted her at a New York Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s, and then defamed her while denying the accusations. On May 9, a jury ordered the him to pay Carroll $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
One day after the New York jury found Trump liable for assaulting and defaming Carroll, the former appeared at a CNN town hall, where he once again suggested the assault was a "hoax" and Carroll was a "whack job."
Carroll is now asking for an amendment to a separate defamation lawsuit that she filed in 2019 against Trump to reflect his CNN town hall remarks. Carroll is seeking an additional $10 million in monetary damages because the former president had "doubled down" on his "demeaning" comments.
"Trump's defamatory statements post-verdict 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," the proposed amended complaint said.
"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."
However, one day after news of Carroll's attempt to amend her defamation suit emerged, Trump continued to publicly attack and insult his accuser and dismissed the rulings of the civil trial.
"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 Truth Social on May 23.
"IT NEVER HAPPENED, IS A TOTAL SCAM, UNFAIR TRIAL!"
Barbara McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor and former U.S. attorney, said Trump is at risk of Carroll launching fresh lawsuits against him every time he mentions the results of the civil trial.
"The first rule of damage control is when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Trump is doing the opposite," McQuade told Newsweek.
"Every time he denies sexually assaulting Carroll, he creates a new legal claim for her. In addition, now that a jury has found Trump sexually assaulted Carroll, she can assert claim preclusion, meaning that a jury would be instructed to assume that fact is true.
"The only way to deter Trump from violating the law with impunity is to follow through with these claims," McQuade added.
It's unclear if Carroll is planning on filing further suits against Trump over his Truth Social post.
The "ape" comment from Trump in the social media post is in reference to a section of Carroll's 2019 book What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal—where she first details the assault at Bergdorf Goodman—in which she describes calling her former husband John Johnson, who is Black, "an ape" during an argument.
Trump's lawyers tried to introduce the comments as evidence against Carroll during the civil trial, which Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected.
Employment and defamation attorney Camron Dowlatshahi said in normal circumstances a defendant who is found liable of defamation "exercises some care and thoughtfulness" in their subsequent public comments. "That certainly does not apply to Donald Trump," Dowlatshahi told Newsweek.
In Carroll's latest amended suit against Trump, her lawyers noted that the former president had the audience at the CNN town hall "applauding and laughing along uproariously" to his comments about Carroll in which he asked: "What kind of woman meets somebody and brings them up, and within minutes you're playing hanky-panky in a dressing room?"
The complaint adds: "Trump used a national platform to demean and mock Carroll. He egged on a laughing audience as he made light of his violent sexual assault, called Carroll names, implied that Carroll was asking to be assaulted, and dismissed the jury's verdict vindicating Carroll."
Carroll's lawyers also asked for a speedy resolution to her attempts to seek a further $10 million from Trump, "while she remains in good health and before Donald Trump's time and attention are consumed entirely by his presidential campaign."
Newsweek has contacted Trump's legal team for comment via email.
