https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-walks-out-courtroom-carrolls-lawyer-offers-closing-argument-2024-01-26/NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Donald Trump was ordered by a federal jury on Friday to pay $83.3 million in damages to E. Jean Carroll, who accused the former U.S. president of destroying her reputation as a trustworthy journalist by denying he raped her nearly three decades ago.
Carroll, 80, sued Trump in November 2019 over his denials five months earlier that he had raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.
Trump, 77, claimed that he had never heard of Carroll, and that she made up her story to boost sales of her memoir.
His lawyers said Carroll was hungry for fame and enjoyed the attention from supporters for speaking out against her nemesis.
Another jury last May ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million over a similar October 2022 denial, finding that he had defamed and sexually abused Carroll. Trump is appealing that decision.
In the current trial, Carroll had sought at least $10 million more, saying Trump had "shattered" her reputation as a respected journalist who told the truth.
She also sought punitive damages, in part to keep Trump from repeating his denials.
