- The Washington Times - Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Former President Donald Trump arrived at a New York courthouse early Tuesday, roughly 12 hours after claiming victory in Iowa, to face the penalty phase in the E. Jean Carroll sex assault and defamation trial.

A jury in a Manhattan federal courtroom is considering how much Mr. Trump should pay the former advice columnist over claims he defamed her with 2019 comments denying he sexually assaulted her.

A previous jury awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million after finding Mr. Trump liable for sex abuse and defamation claims related to Ms. Carroll’s assertion the ex-president raped her in the dressing room of a department store in 1996 — an accusation Mr. Trump denies.

Now, Ms. Carroll is seeking $10 million over comments Mr. Trump made in 2019 as president.

“I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?” he said at the time.

The court said the findings of the first trial, which found Mr. Trump liable for comments in 2022, will carry over, so the short trial will determine what Mr. Trump must pay.

The ex-president has lashed out at Ms. Carroll in the run-up to the second trial.

“I had no idea who this woman was. She wrote nonsense about me in her failed book, the press asked me if it was true, I said NO, and so it began —A totally fabricated story with another Trump hating Judge,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Our legal system is TERRIBLE!!!”

It is the latest round in Mr. Trump’s legal saga as he balances the courtroom and campaign.

Mr. Trump is awaiting a judgment in a separate New York lawsuit that alleged his real estate company submitted false financial documents to gain favorable terms on loans and insurance.

He faces four criminal trials this year, including two related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

A trial in Florida will determine whether Mr. Trump broke the law by taking government records to his Mar-a-Lago estate and thwarting archivists who wanted them back, and a New York indictment accusing him of falsifying business records to cover up hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and two other people ahead of the 2016 election.

Ms. Daniels in a podcast released Sunday, said she planned to take the stand in the trial scheduled to start on March 25.

“Things have been next level crazy since I am set to testify in, at this point in time, March — obviously, that can change any moment, in the hush money case,” said Ms. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

None of Mr. Trump’s legal woes seemed to matter to Republican Iowa voters who gave him a resounding victory in the caucus that kicked off the 2024 nomination contests.

Mr. Trump won 51% of the vote compared to 21% for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and 19% for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Ms. Haley says she will do better in New Hampshire and it is a two-person race.

Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has suggested he may testify at the second Carroll trial.

“I’m going to go to it and I’m going to explain I don’t know who the hell she is,” he told reporters on the campaign trail.

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.

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