Former President Donald Trump will receive damages in E. Jean Carroll’s upcoming trial accusing him of defaming her by claiming she made allegations of sexual abuse against him, a federal judge said Wednesday.
Trump’s claim in 2019 that the 79-year-old “Ask E. Jean” advice columnist had fabricated allegations of abuse “to gain publicity” was a lie made with “malicious intent,” Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote.
Kaplan in his ruling cited a May Manhattan federal jury’s verdict that found Trump, 77, liable for sexual assault and defamation — and ordered him to pay $5 million in damages — in a separate lawsuit brought by Carroll, who accused him of raping her inside Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s. an.
Wednesday’s ruling is a major defeat for Trump in the case, and leaves the question of how much damages the former president will be ordered to pay as the only open issue to be determined in the trial.
Kaplan also rejected Trump’s offer to limit damages awards in future cases to the $5 million he has been ordered to pay.
The case stems in part from Trump’s claim — which a jury found to be false — on the social media app Truth Social in 2022 that Carroll’s claims were “a complete hoax”.
The judge sided with advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, finding that the only open question at the upcoming trial is how much damages Trump will be ordered to pay. Alec Tabak
Trump’s efforts to limit damages in future cases over his 2019 statements are “without merit,” Kaplan wrote.
A Manhattan jury in May found that “a preponderance of the evidence” showed that Trump sexually abused Carroll at a Fifth Avenue department store in the 1990s, Kaplan said in his decision.
May’s decision also indicated that the jury was “convinced by clear and convincing evidence that Ms. Carroll did not fabricate her allegations of sexual assault,” the judge added.
A Manhattan jury in May found that “a preponderance of the evidence” showed that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll at a department store in the mid-1990s.AP
Wednesday’s ruling is just the latest legal blow Trump has suffered in the case.
The decision is just the latest setback for Trump, after the former president’s efforts to throw out the case were rejected in June.GC Images
In June, the same judge blocked Trump’s efforts to throw out the defamation suit, finding that the former commander-in-chief could not invoke presidential immunity.
Trump also faces a total of 91 charges in four active criminal cases in Manhattan, Washington, DC, Georgia and Florida – and could spend up to 712 years and six months in prison if convicted in all cases.
His attorney did not return requests for comment on Wednesday’s ruling.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
