Just a few weeks after she was awarded $5 million in damages by a federal jury in New York, E. Jean Carroll has filed additional court papers that show she’s seeking “very substantial” monetary damages from former President Donald Trump.
On Monday, Carroll filed the paperwork in court seeking the additional damages after Trump made more scathing remarks about her during a CNN town hall event. Those comments were made just one day after Trump was ordered to pay the lawyer $5 million as part of her defamation and abuse lawsuit that she brought against Trump.
Carroll, a writer, alleged that Trump raped her at a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, and a jury agreed that she deserved the $5 million as a result.
That original lawsuit was filed in 2019. And while that case was seemingly closed when the jury ruled in her favor, Carroll’s lawyers have now asked a federal court judge in Manhattan to amend that case so they can update it to reflect new statements Trump made about her during the CNN town hall event that was held on May 10.
Carroll’s lawyers say those comments were also defamatory, and as a result, she’s seeking at least $10 million more from Trump.
In the amended complaint that Carroll’s lawyers sent to the judge, they wrote:
“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. 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.”
Carroll filed a second suit late last year that alleged Trump defamed and raped her. He denied all of the allegations, but a jury sided with Carroll and ruled in her favor.
Joseph Tacopina, who is serving as Trump’s lawyer in the case, didn’t respond to requests for comments from CNBC on Monday. However, he did file a notice that they would be appealing the verdict of the case.
The proposed amended case notes that during the town hall with CNN:
“Trump falsely stated that he did not sexually abuse Carroll, that he has no idea who Carroll was, and that Carroll’s now-proven accusation was a ‘fake’ and ‘made up story’ created by a ‘whack job.’
“Trump also insulted Carroll’s character and downplayed his sexual abuse of her by asking ‘what kind of woman meets someone’ and then ‘within minutes’ plays ‘hanky-panky in a dressing room.’”
The amended suit also said that roughly 3.3 million people tuned into the broadcast on CNN, and they heard many members of the studio audience “applauding and laughing along uproariously to Trump’s comments.”
There were also many posts on Twitter that echoed the “many lies and demeaning remarks” that Trump made about Carroll. As the complain outlines:
“These and other similar messages are exactly what Trump intended. 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 Carroll was asking to be assaulted, and dismissed the jury’s verdict vindicating Carroll.”
