It took jurors less than three hours to reach a verdict in Manhattan federal court after a five-day trial. The amount the former US president was ordered to pay far exceeded the minimum $10 million Carroll had asked for.
Former US President Donald Trump and journalist Elizabeth Jean Carroll. Photo: CNN
Mr Trump attended most of the trial but was not in the courtroom for the verdict. He said in a social media post that he would appeal.
Ms Carroll, 80, a former Elle magazine journalist, sued Mr Trump in November 2019 over his previous denials that he raped her in the mid-1990s in the dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan.
Ms Carroll alleged that Mr Trump's denials had "shattered" her reputation as a respected journalist who told the truth.
The seven-person jury awarded Carroll $18.3 million in damages, including $11 million for harm to her reputation. The jury also awarded another $65 million in damages, which Carroll said was necessary to stop Trump from continuing to defame her.
Mr Trump, 77, has insisted he has never heard of Carroll and that she made up her story to boost sales of her memoir.
In May 2023, another jury ordered Mr. Trump to pay Ms. Carroll $5 million for a similar denial in October 2022. Mr. Trump is also appealing that decision. Both appeals could take years.
Hoang Anh (according to Reuters, CNN)
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