E. Jean Carroll asked a court to update the defamation suit she filed against Donald Trump, who was then president. He had called her a “whack-job” in his CNN town hall last month.
Roberta Kaplan, an attorney for Carroll, said in a late-Monday court filing that her client would be seeking “very substantial punitive damage awards” as a result of Trump’s comments.
Trump made these comments just a day after the New York federal court jury found Trump liable of sexually abusing Carroll at a Manhattan department shop in the 1990s, and then defaming Carroll for calling her claim fraud. Carroll was awarded $5 million by the jury.
The proposed amended complaint by Carroll’s lawyer notes that Trump complained about this verdict on his Truth Social social media platform shortly afterward, and then went on a tirade against Carroll at a CNN Town Hall the following night.
When asked by CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins about his reaction to this verdict, Trump replied “by repeating a number of the defamatory remarks for which the jury just found him liable a day earlier,” according to the filing.
The filing states that “During the conversation, Trump falsely claimed that he had not sexually abused Carroll, that Carroll is a fake and made up story created by a “whack job,” and other insults.
It said that “this conduct supports an extremely substantial punitive damage award in Carroll’s favor, both to punish Trump and to deter him further from defaming others, as well as to deter other from doing the similar.”
Alina Habba, Trump’s lawyer, said in a press release to NBC News: “Ms. Carroll’s last-minute attempt to amend the complaint exposes her true motives.
E. Jean Carroll walks out of Manhattan federal court, in New York, on May 9.
Seth Wenig / AP file
Carroll filed her second lawsuit against Trump in the civil case that went to trial last week. She first claimed that he had defamed by calling her a lie after she went public with her claim back in 2019 when he was president.
The case was settled on appeal, over the question of whether Trump can be held responsible for remarks he made as president.
The case was sent back to New York by a Washington appeals court for further proceedings. It is now pending again before U.S. district Court Judge Lewis Kaplan who presided over this recent trial.
Trump has filed notice stating that he is appealing his $5 million verdict.
