By Kara Scannell | CNN
A federal decide dominated that the jury listening to E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit will solely have to resolve how a lot cash Donald Trump should pay her, after the decide discovered the previous president was answerable for making defamatory statements.
The discovering is a major blow to Trump, who’s dealing with quite a few legal indictments and civil lawsuits – a lot of them coming to a head as he embarks on a presidential marketing campaign.
Decide Lewis Kaplan mentioned {that a} federal jury’s verdict earlier this yr towards Trump will carry over to the defamation case set to go to trial in January involving statements Trump made in 2019 about Carroll’s sexual assault allegations.
In Might after a two-week trial, a jury discovered Trump sexually abused Carroll and defamed her when he mentioned in 2022 that he didn’t rape her, didn’t know her, and that she wasn’t his “kind.”
“The reality or falsity of Mr Trump’s 2019 statements due to this fact relies upon – like the reality or falsity of his 2022 assertion – on whether or not Ms Carroll lied about Mr Trump sexually assaulting her. The jury’s discovering that she didn’t due to this fact is binding on this case and precludes Mr Trump from contesting the falsity of his 2019 statements,” the decide dominated.
The decide dominated the trial set for January 15 will probably be restricted to damages.
Earlier this yr – within the case involving the 2022 statements – the jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages after discovering Trump liable.
On Wednesday, Kaplan additionally rejected Trump’s argument that any future damages be capped, that means the earlier award shouldn’t be an element for the jury. Carroll is in search of greater than $10 million in damages.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing. He has appealed the jury’s verdict and all rulings towards him.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable Information Community, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Firm. All rights reserved.
