'Never forget!' E. Jean Carroll takes 'victory lap' on anniversary of legal win over Trump
Writer E. Jean Carroll is taking a "victory lap" over her defamation judgments against former President Donald Trump, reported NJ.com — and is reminding the public in a post to X that those wins are proof the former president is not invincible amid his numerous other legal troubles.
"Never Forget May 9th!" she wrote — a reference to the one-year anniversary of the first jury ruling that Trump was liable for sexual abuse and defamation to the tune of $5 million. "Trump can be beat! Trump can be trounced! Trump can lose."
Carroll, an advice columnist, alleged that the former president raped her in a Manhattan department store in the late 1990s. Trump, for his part, maintained that he had no idea who she is and that she fabricated the story to advance her writing career — which was the basis of Carroll's defamation suit.
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In January, a second jury awarded Carroll a much larger judgment of $83 million for an additional defamation claim. This is in addition to more than $450 million he owes in damages for the Trump Organization civil fraud case in New York.
Trump is currently appealing both of these decisions. He has also continued to make the same claims against Carroll that were ruled to be defamatory even after the judgment against him.
This comes as the former president faces the first of his four criminal trials, in Manhattan for business fraud over concealed alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels to defraud voters in the 2016 presidential election. With all three of the other criminal cases against Trump facing significant procedural delays, it is possible that the Manhattan case will be the only criminal trial that can be decided before the 2024 presidential election is held.