Trump searching for a lawyer to lead his appeal against E. Jean Carroll verdict

Former President Donald Trump says he is conducting a broad search for a top lawyer to lead his appeal against the $83 million judgment that a New York jury awarded to former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll in her defamation lawsuit.

Mr. Trump, writing on Truth Social late Tuesday, made no mention of Alina Habba, the outspoken lawyer who represented him at trial.

Instead, he said his team is “interviewing various law firms to represent me in an Appeal of one of the most ridiculous and unfair Witch Hunts our Country has ever seen.”

A federal jury in Manhattan awarded Ms. Carroll compensatory and punitive damages for comments Mr. Trump made in 2019 after she accused him of raping her in a New York department store in 1996.

A previous jury awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million after finding Mr. Trump liable for sex abuse, though not rape, and defamation because of comments the former president made in 2022.

Mr. Trump says the case was a “defamation sham” presided over by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, a Clinton appointee.

Foreshadowing his appeal, Mr. Trump said the judge severely limited what he could say on the witness stand, given the previous jury’s decision, and constrained what Ms. Habba could submit as evidence.

“This entire HOAX is a disgrace to our American System of Justice,” Mr. Trump said. “Any lawyer who takes a TRUMP CASE is either ’CRAZY,’ or a TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOT. I will make my decision soon!”

Mr. Trump is relying on an assortment of lawyers to handle his civil and criminal trials up and down the East Coast this year.

Some lawyers who worked with Mr. Trump during his efforts to challenge the 2020 election results say they regretted it.

Three lawyers who supported the effort — Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Kenneth Chesebro — pleaded guilty to low-level offenses and agreed to cooperate with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in her election subversion case against Mr. Trump and his allies.