Trump Bashes His Lawyers During Wild E. Jean Carroll Rant
Donald Trump may have opened himself up to even more charges of defamation by author E. Jean Carroll — and probably pissed off his lawyers in the process.
On Friday, the former president attended court in New York to appeal a 2023 verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll, who alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the ‘90s.
Following the in-court proceedings, Trump delivered a nearly hour-long rant to reporters from Trump Tower in Manhattan, repeating accusations against Carroll that have been ruled defamatory by the court.
Trump called the trial “a set up” and a “rigged deal,” claiming that he “never met” Carroll and that “she wrote a book and she made a ridiculous story up.”
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1832081625942741095
The former president also suggested that a photo of him meeting Carroll may have been AI-generated.
“I’ve never met the woman — other than this picture — which could have been AI-generated. I don’t know, it showed up out of nowhere,” Trump said, bragging that he was too famous at the time to enter a department store and assault a woman without it making headlines.
“Total phony story,” he added.
https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1832085852329296267
Trump also brought up a second woman, Jessica Leeds, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her on a flight in the late 1970s. “What are the chances of that happening,” Trump said. “It couldn’t have happened, it didn’t happen, and she would not have been the chosen one.”
Trump also added that he was “disappointed” in his legal team following their day in court to appeal the Carroll verdict.
“I’m disappointed in my legal talent, I’ll be honest with you,” he said as his lawyers stood awkwardly behind him. “They’re good, they’re good people, they’re talented people,” he added, questioning why his attorneys hadn’t mentioned a “Monica Lewinsky-type dress” he suggested would have greatly affected his case.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1832092123082129428
At one point Trump also claimed that his lawyers had advised him not to show up to the trial despite his desire to do so. The former president said he didn’t even know “when the trial was,” and seemed confused about whether or not he was still in office at the time.
Trump has been ordered by the courts to pay a combined $88 million in damages to Carroll between two civil cases filed by the author. After initially being ordered to pay Carroll $5 million last May, a judge ruled in a second civil lawsuit that the former president had continued to defame Carroll publicly to the tune of $83 million in damages. In April, a federal judge rejected Trump’s bid for a new trial in the case.
Despite the massive financial penalties, Trump has continued to attack Carroll in public and online, and her attorneys are willing to continue pursuing restitution for defamation until he stops.
“I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: all options are on the table,” Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, told reporters following Trump’s press conference on Friday.
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