Donald Trump found liable for defamation in rape accuser E. Jean Carroll’s second lawsuit
- A judge says an earlier jury verdict means the jury will only have to decide how much the former US president should pay in damages
- Trump had already been ordered in May to pay Carroll US$5 million for sexual assault and a separate defamation
A US federal judge on Wednesday found Donald Trump liable for defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll by denying in 2019 that he had raped her, and said jurors will decide only how much the former US president should pay in damages.
The decision by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan comes ahead of a scheduled January 15, 2024, civil trial, after a jury in May ordered Trump to pay Carroll US$5 million for sexual assault and a separate defamation.
That jury “considered and decided issues that are common to both cases”, and its verdict and the undisputed facts “establish that Mr Trump’s 2019 statements were made with actual malice”, Kaplan wrote.
Trump is appealing the May 9 jury verdict, as well as Kaplan’s June 29 refusal to dismiss the current lawsuit, to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan.
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US jury finds Donald Trump liable in abuse and defamation case involving writer E. Jean Carroll
He has also separately pleaded not guilty to charges in four separate federal and state criminal indictments, including two for attempting to reverse his 2020 election loss.