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Jury Orders Trump to Pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 Million

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Donald Trump will have to pay journalist E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in total damages in her defamation case, after nine jurors – seven men and two women – deliberated for just under three hours in a lower Manhattan federal courthouse Friday afternoon.

This is the second civil defamation and sexual abuse case Carroll brought against the ex-president, who is facing 91 state and federal criminal felony charges. Hen is also facing a civil business fraud case in New York, which has the potential to cost him hundreds of millions and bar him from doing business in the Empire State.

E. Jean Carroll’s case surrounded defamatory statements Trump made in June of 2019, and jurors were required to determine compensatory and punitive damages Trump owes for those statements. In the first case a jury determined Trump was liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The judge in both cases, senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan determined those facts would hold over for this case. He also had noted after the first case that Trump had effectively been found liable for rape, making the ex-president an adjudicated rapist.

READ MORE: ‘Bratty’ and ‘Megalomaniacal’ Trump Mocked for Storming Out of Court After Being Criticized

Initially Carroll’s attorney asked for $10 million in compensatory damages in the current case, but expert testimony revealed it would cost the journalist, author, and advice columnist at least $12 million to repair her damaged reputation, and millions more in lost wages and other injuries.

Just Security last week described that as, “economic loss (lost income, career opportunities, or business deals due to damaged reputation) as well as for emotional distress (mental anguish, humiliation, and reputational harm).”

Carroll’s attorneys on Friday asked the jury for $24 million in compensatory damages. During closing arguments Carroll’s attorneys told the jury Trump’s claims of high net worth should be taken in to account when deciding how much to award Carroll in punitive damages.

Throughout the trial, and as recently as 11:30 AM Friday, Donald Trump continued his attacks, calling the trial the “E. Jean Carroll False Accusation Case,” and falsely claiming, “This is another Biden Demanded Witch Hunt against his Political Opponent, funded and managed by Radical Left Democrats. The Courts are totally stacked against me, have never been used against a Political Opponent, like this.”

The jury was required to answer these three “yes” or “no” questions:

“Did Ms. Carroll prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Ms. Carroll suffered more than nominal damages as a result of Mr. Trump’s publication of the June 21 and June 22, 2019 statements?”

READ MORE: Not Just Trump: GOP Voters Cheer and Applaud Boebert and 5 GOP Rivals for Arrest Records

“In making the June 21, 2019 statement, Mr. Trump acted maliciously, out of hatred, ill will, or spite, vindictively, or in wanton, reckless, or willful disregard of Ms. Carroll’s rights?”

“In making the June 22, 2019 statement, Mr. Trump acted maliciously, out of hatred, ill will, or spite, vindictively, or in wanton, reckless, or willful disregard of Ms. Carroll’s rights?”

During the final day of trial, Donald Trump stormed out of the courtroom when he was criticized by Carroll’s attorney, the highly-respected Roberta Kaplan. Judge Kaplan (no relation) announced that would become part of the trial record.

Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, repeatedly ignored Judge Kaplan’s directions to not question the facts of the case, that Trump had been found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, yet she repeatedly ignored his warnings.

Judge Kaplan was forced repeatedly to warn and rebuke Habba, and at one point during closing arguments, he threatened Habba with jail if she continued.

READ MORE: Former Trump Press Secretary Serves up Surprise Praise for Biden on Fox News

NBC News reports the breakdown in damages:

“$7.3 million in compensatory damages outside of the reputation repair program, $11 million in compensatory damages for a reputation repair program only, $65 million in punitive damages.”

The jury was anonymous. After they reached tier verdict Judge Kaplan instructed them, “My advice to you is that you never disclose that you were on this jury.”

 

This article was updated to add the breakdown of damages and Judge Kaplan’s final instructions to the jury.

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‘You’re a Loser Dude’: Carville Scorches Trump as ‘Done’

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James Carville, the veteran political consultant, blasted President Donald Trump after Democrats had another strong showing in Tuesday night’s elections.

In several contests — including Miami’s mayoral race, where the Democrat won by a wide margin — Democrats overperformed, continuing the streak they’ve had for much of the entire year. According to elections news site Bolts, Democrats “flipped 21 percent of all the GOP-held seats that were on the ballot throughout 2025.”

“He’s done,” Carville said of Trump on Wednesday’s Politics War Room podcast. “We just got to butter this toast and slice it and eat it. He’s done.”

READ MORE: ‘Special Kind of Delusion’: Top Democrat Mocks Trump ‘Train Wreck’

“He’s done in Florida,” Carville continued. “He’s done in Pennsylvania. He’s done in New Jersey. He’s done in Virginia. He’s done in Mississippi. He was done in Georgia. He’s done.”

“It’s over. You’re a loser, dude,” Carville declared. “You’re losing everywhere. And you’re gonna lose more, because you, my friend, are a loser.”

The Democratic pundit began the segment by saying that Trump is “trying to argue that you’re not feeling what you’re feeling.”

“But understand this. People are seeing this and people are voting on this. Understand that. He’s not getting away with it. He’s caught onto. He’s not getting away with it. He’s paying for it. And he’s gonna continue to pay for it.”

“And we got to stop looking at him as some kind of political Svengali, a political Houdini, or anything like that.”

READ MORE: ‘His Heart Just Ain’t in It’: Report Reveals Trump’s ‘Achilles Heel’

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‘Special Kind of Delusion’: Top Democrat Mocks Trump ‘Train Wreck’

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Tuesday night was the first stop on President Donald Trump’s new affordability messaging tour, but it was a “train wreck,” U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said.

Trump may have read all his lines at his Pennsylvania rally, but he also ad-libbed a lot, mocking the affordability crisis in America as a “hoax.”

Leader Schumer on Wednesday told his Senate colleagues that Trump “simply doesn’t get what people are struggling through,” because he’s “trapped in his billionaire bubble.”

READ MORE: How Trump Could Try to Undermine the 2026 Elections — and Fail: Columnist

“It takes a special kind of delusion to tell parents to buy their kids fewer toys and pencils while bragging about new ballrooms and gold in the Oval Office,” the New York Democratic lawmaker explained.

“In his speech, that was supposed to be about affordability, Donald Trump kept making fun of the word ‘affordability,'” Schumer noted. “Does he have to go shop for groceries and not be able to buy the things his family needs?”

The Democratic Leader explained that the president doesn’t understand what it’s like when your car gets damaged in an accident, “and you don’t have money for the deductible, and you don’t have a car.”

“People are struggling,” Schumer said. “They can’t afford basic needs, and Donald Trump keeps making fun of it by calling it all a giant hoax. But Americans know affordability is not a hoax. They see it as very real every time they go to the grocery store, pay their bills, pay the rent.”

A recent poll found that 77% of Americans concerned about the economy and inflation believe the president is not spending enough time managing those problems.

READ MORE: ‘His Heart Just Ain’t in It’: Report Reveals Trump’s ‘Achilles Heel’

“What was Donald Trump’s solution to affordability?” Senator Schumer asked. “Well, last night, Trump said parents should buy their kids fewer dolls for Christmas. We’re not talking about fewer dolls for Christmas. We’re talking about necessities like food. Like medicine. Like fixing your car when it gets damaged.”

A just released Politico poll found that “Half of those surveyed said they find it difficult to pay for food. And a majority, 55 percent, blame the Trump administration for the high prices.”

Schumer continued to blast Trump, noting that he “said kids at school should have fewer pencils. And then he repeated his favorite, that his favorite word was tariffs. What kind of world does he live in? Does he understand that these tariffs are raising prices? Through the roof?”

Schumer also pointed to Trump’s Politico interview this week — where the president gave himself an “A+++++” on the economy — and warned that “the American people are giving him an F.”

“Over the last year, the price of beef has gone up at the grocery store by 20%,” Schumer noted. “That’s an F. Today, Americans pay 40% more for a single cup of coffee on their way to work than they did last year. That’s an F. People are paying more on electricity bills while Donald Trump has cut domestic energy jobs. That’s a massive F.”

“The final grade, big fat F. In no universe does Donald Trump deserve anywhere close to an A, or a B, or even a C, for his job on the economy.”

READ MORE: ‘Reality Problem’: Columnist Says Trump ‘Isn’t Even Trying’ to Honor His Promises

 

Image via Reuters

 

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How Trump Could Try to Undermine the 2026 Elections — and Fail: Columnist

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The Atlantic’s David Frum sat down with Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center at New York University, to discuss how President Donald Trump and his administration might try to undermine the 2026 midterm elections, and what is in place that could prevent them from succeeding.

“What can a president and a party that is still in control of Congress do to bend things their way?” Frum asked.

“Well,” Waldman replied, “there is much they can do to try to undermine the way the system works, but there are limits as well.”

“I want to stress that,” he added, “in each of these areas, there are things that can be attempted, and there are potentially effective pushbacks that can make sure that the election actually does happen, as we would hope it happens, where the voters, however they choose, get the last word.”

READ MORE: ‘His Heart Just Ain’t in It’: Report Reveals Trump’s ‘Achilles Heel’

But Waldman also warned Frum that “for the first time, I think, in American history, the federal government and the Trump administration are actively waging an effort to undermine the 2026 elections.”

“One thing that President Trump has tried to do already,” Waldman noted, “is to take personal control of the election system.”

Frum and Waldman discussed several activities Trump and his administration have tried, could try, or are trying, including issuing an executive order requiring passports as ID to vote — which the courts blocked. Similar legislation, requiring a passport or birth certificate to vote, passed the House but stalled in the Senate (the SAVE Act).

There is also the purging of federal election security experts, the weaponization of law enforcement, the use of federal agents — including, for instance, ICE and CBP near polling locations — and the use of the courts.

“When Congress blocked the SAVE Act,” Waldman noted, “the president put out another, rather, another post on social media saying, ‘I’m going to do an executive order ending vote by mail.'” Paraphrasing the president, he suggested that Trump claimed, “I’m gonna do this, and, by the way, the state election officials are merely agents who work for the president, and their job is merely to count the votes as agents for the president.”

“They are threatening to use the tools of law enforcement to scare off people in the election machinery,” Waldman explained.

READ MORE: ‘Reality Problem’: Columnist Says Trump ‘Isn’t Even Trying’ to Honor His Promises

Frum warned that National Guard troops, for example, operating near polling locations, could “detain” people for a few hours, “at least until after the polls close.”

“Those are known as ‘Kavanaugh stops,'” Waldman interjected, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court justice.

There is also the use of gerrymandering and the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court will further gut the Voting Rights Act, they noted.

On gerrymandering, Waldman explained, “sometimes, if the voters have what’s called a wave election, where people are all rushing to the polls to vote, you know, their opposition to the current party in power, it can actually not only not have the desired impact, it can actually create more victories for the other party. That is, in technical terms, called a ‘dummymander.'”

Waldman noted that the Trump administration may be trying many different things to sow doubt about free and fair elections.

He said, “ultimately … they are trying to stir doubt, and create a cloud of suspicion, to make it easier, should there be, you know, the opportunity to push election officials and others to cave.”

READ MORE: ‘Appearance of Quid Pro Quo’: Sotomayor Confronts GOP Lawyer in Campaign Finance Argument

 

Image via Reuters

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