Highlights: Donald Trump will have to pay $83.3 million to the journalist for repeatedly publicly defaming her since the mid-1990s. Elizabeth Jean Carrolln, who was a journalist and columnist for the American edition of Elle magazine, accused Donald Trump in 2019 of having raped her in 1996 in a fitting room of a New York department store. The former American president was found responsible for sexual assault and defamation during a first trial, in May 2023, by a federal jury.

The former American president, who aspires to a new mandate, is ordered to pay more than 80 million dollars for having defamed the author E. Jean Carrol after having sexually assaulted her.

United States: first judicial verdict of the year for Donald Trump and first conviction

The former American president, who aspires to a new mandate, is ordered to pay more than 80 million dollars for having defamed the author E. Jean Carrol after having sexually assaulted her.

United States: Donald Trump in New York, heading to the court hearing for the second trial in the case of E. Jean Carroll, a journalist he defamed after sexually assaulting him. REUTERS - EDUARDO MUNOZ

By: RFI Follow

Donald Trump will have to pay $83.3 million to the journalist for repeatedly publicly defaming her since the mid-1990s.

Elizabeth Jean Carrolln, who was a journalist and columnist for the American edition of

Elle magazine,

accused Donald Trump in 2019 of having raped her in 1996 in a fitting room of a New York department store. The former American president was

found responsible for sexual assault and defamation

during a first trial, in May 2023, by a federal jury which ordered him to pay $5 million. The jurors had

“

concluded that Donald Trump had indeed sexually abused her
, thirty years ago, in a fitting room of a department store.

May 2023, New York: E. Jean Carroll leaving Manhattan federal court, after the first conviction of Donald Trump. REUTERS - BRENDAN MCDERMID

This second trial concerned other comments, targeted by a civil complaint filed in 2019. The jury recognized the intention to “

harm

” Mr. Trump, found responsible for defamatory comments against the journalist, who demanded minus ten million dollars for moral and professional damage.

A Manhattan jury on Friday ordered Donald Trump to pay $83.3 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her ever since she first accused him of rape. Trump was found liable last year of sexually abusing her in the mid-1990s. https://t.co/wWvSwafY26 pic.twitter.com/lbBgPRzNP4

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 26, 2024

Before, during, after his presidency and even after being convicted of sexual assault, Donald Trump constantly repeated that the journalist was lying, that he did not know her and even sometimes that she was crazy. He continued during the trial, at times bordering on an expulsion that he clearly sought, while E. Jean Carrol and his lawyers described the threats from Trumpist supporters, and the consequences for his career.

Donald Trump's lawyer had, on the contrary, estimated that this affair gave him notoriety. In defining the amount of damages, the jury probably took this attitude into account, as it took into account the fortune claimed by Donald Trump.

During the trial, the presidential candidate continued to denounce a witch hunt and justice under orders. It is his strategy to use his legal setbacks as a political platform. And it's not over since he is being criminally prosecuted in four cases which he is trying to drag out as long as possible until a possible victory in the presidential election in November.

United States: first judicial verdict of the year for Donald Trump and first conviction

United States: first judicial verdict of the year for Donald Trump and first conviction

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