Aiexpress – Donald Trump’s legal team filed a request with a New York judge on Friday, seeking to halt the $83.3 million defamation verdict against the former president. They argued that there is a high likelihood that the verdict would be reduced or even overturned on appeal.
The lawyers filed the request in a Manhattan federal court. The civil jury had recently awarded the sum to advice columnist E. Jean Carroll after a five-day trial that solely focused on damages. The judge had instructed the jury to accept the findings of another jury from last year, which had determined that Trump sexually abused Carroll in 1996 and defamed her in 2022.
The second jury solely examined the statements made by President Trump in 2019, during his tenure as president. This case had faced multiple delays due to appeals.
In their filing on Friday, Trump’s lawyers requested Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to temporarily halt the enforcement of the judgment he issued on Feb. 8. They proposed that the execution be suspended until a month after the resolution of Trump’s post-trial motions, which are expected to be filed by March 7. Alternatively, they suggested that a partially secured stay be granted, requiring Trump to post a bond for only a portion of the awarded amount.
According to the lawyers, the punitive award of $65 million, in addition to the $18.3 million in compensatory damages, is deemed “plainly excessive” as it violates both the Constitution and federal common law.
They expressed confidence that the judgment amount would likely be significantly reduced or even eliminated due to the disposition of post-trial motions.
Ever since Carroll, now 80, courageously shared her allegations in a memoir back in 2019, Trump, aged 77, has continuously dismissed them as falsehoods aimed at promoting her book and tarnishing his reputation. He has resorted to name-calling, referring to her as a “whack job” and asserting that she wasn’t “his type,” insinuating that she was not attractive enough to be a victim of rape, as Carroll testified.
Carroll shared during her testimony that she has received death threats from supporters of Trump and has experienced significant damage to her reputation due to the ongoing remarks made by Trump during the trial.
During the second trial, Trump made regular appearances and provided brief testimony. However, he primarily communicated with the jury through frequent shakes of his head and muttered disparaging comments. These remarks were loud enough for a prosecutor to voice concerns that the jurors might have heard them. In response, the judge warned Trump that he could be banished from the courtroom.
Roberta Kaplan, the lawyer representing Carroll, declined to comment on Friday.
Alina Habba, an attorney representing Trump, expressed in a statement that the jury’s award in January was “unreasonably excessive.”
According to Habba, the Court needs to use its power to stop Ms. Carroll from enforcing this ridiculous judgment, as it will not hold up on appeal.
Since the January verdict, a state court judge in New York has recently ordered Trump and his companies to pay $355 million in penalties. The ruling came as a result of a yearslong scheme to deceive banks and others with fraudulent financial statements, which inflated his wealth. As per the court’s decision, with the addition of interest, Trump now owes the state nearly $454 million.
