Accuser shares how she plans to spend Trump's $83M as lawyers plan challenge

28 January 2024 , 18:51

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Accuser shares how she plans to spend Trump's $83M as lawyers plan challenge

E. Jean Carroll has revealed how she plans to spend Donald Trump's $83m damages payment – as the ex-President's lawyers share how they plan to appeal the decision.

The writer, who was awarded the colossal sum of cash by a jury on Friday, joked she was going to “buy some premium dog food” for her two mutts following the victory. In 2019, E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of rape in her book ‘What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal’ - with an excerpt from the time shared in New York magazine in June of that year.

The allegation related back to an incident in early 1996 where she claimed the ex-president had sexually assaulted her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan, New York. She then brought a case against him for defamation when he branded her a "dishonest political operative" and said she had "lied" to boost her book sales.

READ MORE: Donald Trump ordered to pay $83.3million to E Jean Carroll after defaming rape accuser

E. Jean Carroll leaves Manhattan Federal Court following the conclusion of her civil defamation trial against former President Donald Trump (Getty Images)

Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, was initially awarded $5m (£3.9m) in damages when a jury found that Trump was liable for sexually abusing and defaming her. But after she decided to pursue further legal action in relation to the assault and defamatory statements he made following his run as president, she was then handed down a further $83m (£65m).

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Carroll said after the verdict that she planned to spend the money on something meaningful, and said the result was a ‘victory for women’. She told The New York Times: “I’m not going to waste a cent of this. We’re going to do something good with it. This win, more than any other thing, when we needed it the most — after we lost the rights over our own bodies in many states — we put out our flag in the ground on this one. Women won this one. I think it bodes well for the future.”

Former President of the United States Donald J. Trump will have to pay his accuser $83m in damages (Anadolu via Getty Images)

The ex-president, who is favourite to become the Republican nominee at the next election, threw a 'tantrum' when Carroll’s lawyers completed their closing statements to jurors. And he had left the court before the decision to award his accuser the massive sum of money was read out in court.

Writing on Truth Social, the media company he founded, he said the case had been a ‘witch hunt’ and confirmed that his lawyers would be appealing the decision.

He said: "Absolutely ridiculous! I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party. “Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!"

Trump hit out at the trial following the verdict, labelling it a 'witch hunt' (AFP via Getty Images)

And the ex-President's firebrand lawyer Alina Habba has claimed she had uncovered a link between the judge that presided over the case, Judge Lewis Kaplan, and E Jean Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who are not related. She claims that the fact the Judge and lawyer worked together in the early 1990s, with the judge serving as her "mentor", is an "ethics violation" and it will form part of their appeal.

She told the New York Post: "It was never disclosed. It's insane and so incestuous. This is news to us. We are going to include this in our appeal and take appropriate measures. The fact it wasn't disclosed is an ethics violation."

But a representative for Roberta Kaplan, Zak Sawyer, told the paper: "They overlapped for less than two years in the early 1990s at a large law firm when he was a senior partner and she was a junior associate and she never worked for him."

Carroll said she expected Trump to attempt to claw back some of his cash, but didn’t know what his next move might be. She told The New York Times: “I can’t possibly guess what Donald Trump will ever do or not do. Can’t make a guess.”

Douglas Whitbread