Former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll and her lawyer said Monday they intend to make former President Donald Trump pay every cent of the $83 million judgment they secured from a federal jury because of defamatory comments in 2019.
Ms. Carroll said they can do a “lot of good” with the money. And while she hasn’t heard from President Biden’s team about campaigning against Mr. Trump, she seemed open to the idea.
“I’ll do anything I can,” she said on “CBS Mornings.”
The comments sparked online chatter about Ms. Carroll funneling the funds to Mr. Biden’s campaign. Some said it is only natural for Ms. Carroll to side with Mr. Biden after she claimed Mr. Trump raped her in a department store in 1996 and defamed her when she went public with the accusation in 2019.
Mr. Trump said the case was part of a witch hunt to thwart his political ambitions.
A jury of seven men and two women delivered the verdict Friday afternoon, awarding the mix of compensatory and punitive damages after three hours of deliberation.
“I think they said, ‘Enough,’” Ms. Carroll said. “Enough saying horrible, slimy, terrible things about me.”
Her attorney, Roberta Caplan, did not flinch when the CBS panel asked if they expected Mr. Trump to pay up.
“We’re getting the money,” Ms. Caplan said. “Even if he doesn’t have the cash on hand, he has plenty of assets, and he may have to sell his assets to pay us.”
Ms. Caplan said there was “no question” that Mr. Trump’s behavior contributed to the eye-popping award number, citing his ongoing attacks on social media and his decision to walk out of the courtroom during her closing argument.
Ms. Carroll described herself as fearful ahead of the trial but calmed down when she saw him in court and decided he was like the emperor who has no clothes in the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.
“That was written about Donald Trump,” Ms. Carroll said. “We’re the ones who clothe him in all this power, he has none himself. It’s his followers, it’s his hangers-on.”
She said the last time she saw Mr. Trump was “in the dressing room in Bergdorf’s,” referring to the Bergdorf Goodman store where she alleges the assault took place in the 1990s.
A previous jury awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million after finding Mr. Trump liable for sex abuse, though not rape, and defamation stemming from comments in 2022.
The findings carried over to the second trial, so the jury only had to determine what Mr. Trump should pay in additional damages for his 2019 comments.
Mr. Trump, who did not attend the first trial, said it was unfair that he could not contest the underlying claim about the alleged assault. He is the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination for president.
Ms. Carroll acknowledged that Mr. Trump did not attack her directly after the verdict, though says she expects him to resume his criticism.
“If Donald Trump needs to use me again to raise campaign funds, I think he will do it,” Ms. Carroll said. “He’s just using us.”
Ms. Carroll spoke to CBS as part of a Monday media blitz that included a stop at the CNN studio.
She said her side would do “good things” with the awarded money.
“We have some good ideas that we’re working on,” she said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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