10/06/2023

Donald Trump has spent a lot of the previous seven years questioning the legitimacy of the authorized system. He repeatedly said that the scrutiny of him and his allies was unfair and denounced the beliefs of his allies, culminating in a singularly biased pardon report. He used the phrases “witch hunt” and “prank” many a whole bunch of occasions. He attacked judges, juries, prosecutors and investigators, in a single occasion drawing a rebuke from his Supreme Court docket nominee.

However even by his requirements, his habits after the decision of E. Jean Carroll turned a turning level. Not content material with merely criticizing the choose and jury, Trump, throughout an look on CNN two weeks in the past, doubled down on the very kinds of statements that the jury already discovered defamatory in opposition to her.

And once more, he could need to reply for this in court docket. Carroll’s lawyer mentioned late Monday night time that she would search new damages.

Preliminary feedback in October 2022 led to a jury awarding Carroll $3 million for defamation (along with the $2 million for sexual assault for which the jury discovered Trump liable). Carroll’s lawyer mentioned she would search at the very least $10 million for the ultimate spherical, saying that Trump “persistently continued to maliciously slander Carroll” and “was not intimidated by the jury’s verdict.”

The final half is difficult to argue with. And Trump responded by doubling down on Tuesday morning, making remarks much like the slanderous feedback he posted on social media in October and posting them once more on social media.

The brand new grievance is available in a separate case that Carroll filed in 2019 in opposition to Trump. The case is slowed down in authorized questions on whether or not Trump could be held accountable for statements he made about Carroll whereas he was president.

Regardless, Trump’s Might 10 feedback at a CNN occasion and Tuesday’s on Fact Social are remarkably much like Trump’s October feedback. 12 statements Carroll cited in her unique 2022 grievance.

On whether or not he is aware of Carroll

Preliminary Criticism (the one which resulted in Carroll being awarded $3 million in damages): “I do not know this lady.”

CNN Metropolis Corridor: This lady, I do not know her. I by no means met her. I don’t know who she is.” “I don’t know who the hell she is. I do not know who this lady is.”

Social Fact Tuesday: “I do not know E. Jean Carroll, I by no means met her or touched her.”

That it is a “rip-off” and a sort of “work”

Preliminary Criticism: This miss. The Bergdorf Goodman case is a whole rip-off. “It is a full rip-off.”

CNN Metropolis Corridor: “She’s a cool job.” “It is a rigged deal.”

Social Fact Tuesday: “TOTAL FRAUD”.

That it is a “lie” and a “hoax”

Preliminary Criticism: “It is a deception and a lie.”

CNN Metropolis Corridor: “It is a faux story.” (He mentioned it twice.)

Social Fact Tuesday: “Her faux, made-up story she wrote in a e book.” “The Carroll case is a part of a Democrat plan to smear my title and identification, very like the now fully debunked Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.

That Carroll just isn’t his kind

Preliminary Criticism: “This lady just isn’t my kind!”

CNN Metropolis Corridor: She was about 60 years outdated. And it is like 22, 23 years in the past.” (The alleged incident befell within the mid-Nineteen Nineties, when Carroll was in his early 50s. Trump, in his testimony, additionally mistook Carroll within the {photograph} for his then-wife Marla Maples, refuting his claims that she was not his kind.)

How straight a few of them evaluate is up for debate. The remark about Carroll’s age was extra oblique than “not my kind”. And Trump added his feedback about not realizing Carroll, acknowledging the assembly pictured. (Carroll’s grievance said that they “met at the very least as soon as earlier than and traveled for a very long time in the identical New York media circles.”)

It’s not clear how these feedback would possibly play a job in a separate 2019 case that, as famous, is shifting slowly. Authorized Counsel Renato Mariotti observed after the city corridor that Carroll may sue over the feedback, however that “as a sensible matter, it will be troublesome for her to determine additional damages after the jury’s verdict makes her complete for the damages she has suffered up thus far.”

Nonetheless, there isn’t any doubt that Trump is revealing himself by repeating his claims about Carroll, on condition that they’ve been discovered to be slanderous.

Furthermore, he intentionally ridicules the authorized system. Which, because it has grow to be clear as his authorized hazard has widened, he in all probability believes is price any monetary value he could need to pay in a civil go well with.