It’s been almost a month since a New York jury determined former President Trump must pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her. And Carroll’s lawyer says they’d absolutely pounce to sue Trump a third time. Carroll has sued Trump twice for calling her a liar (both during and after his presidency) over her claims that he sexually assaulted her in the ’90s. On Jen Psaki’s MSNBC show on Monday, Psaki told attorney Shawn Crowley that she thinks Trump came “awfully close” to defaming Carroll yet again at a weekend rally. “Who the hell is she? Who is the woman?” Trump said in reference to Carroll. When Psaki asks if Crowley and Carroll’s legal team “watch” what Trump says about Carroll for a potential third lawsuit, Crowley affirms that he does. “We certainly watch them. It’s hard not to,” he told Psaki. Crowley continued, “We’re watching, we’re listening. We had really hoped that, as I think the jury found that $83 million would maybe be enough to convince him to keep E. Jean Carroll’s name out of his mouth. Apparently, he showed us this weekend that he really cannot control himself and that maybe it wasn’t. But we’ll see what happens as this continues to play out.” During Trump’s presidency, Carroll accused him of raping her in a department store dressing room years ago. Trump denied the allegation by calling Carroll a liar and hitting her with numerous personal attacks, including disparaging comments about her appearance, insinuating that she isn’t attractive enough for him to want to assault her. Last May, a New York jury found Trump guilty of sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her over his comments in 2022. That jury determined that Trump owes Carroll $5 million in damages. (The day after the verdict, Trump mocked Carroll at a CNN town hall, prompting her to sue him again.) Then, last month, a different New York jury ruled Trump owes Carroll $83.3 million in damages over defamatory comments he made about her while he was president in 2019. The $83.3 million is almost 10 times what Carroll’s legal team was seeking (about $10 million). To come up with the figure, the jury ruled that Trump should pay Carroll compensatory damages of $18.3 million ($11 million for a reputational repair campaign and $7.3 million for emotional harm.) In addition, the jury determined Trump owes Carroll $65 million in punitive damages because his defamatory statements were made maliciously. Trump responded to the verdict at the time by calling it “absolutely ridiculous” and the entire legal battle between him and Carroll a “Biden Directed Witch Hunt” to take away his “First Amendment Rights." He notably did not name Carroll or call her a liar in the January statement. Trump is clearly never going to shut up about his supposed victimhood or how wronged he is by this unnamed female stranger. But given the man’s finances are in a pretty questionable place right now, he seems to be taking the $83.3 million verdict at least mildly seriously. After all, if he doesn't, Crowley has made it perfectly clear that one step out of line and Trump will face another defamation suit. Here’s hoping Carroll absolutely empties this man’s bank account.
