'The depth of his malice': E. Jean Carroll adds Trump’s CNN comments to her defamation lawsuit
Barely 24 hours after he was ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $5 million in her civil lawsuit, Donald Trump was on national television continuing to talk about the journalist after a jury found him liable for her rape and defamation allegations.
Less than two weeks after that highly-controversial town hall, E. Jean Carroll’s attorney has amended her defamation lawsuit (this is a different lawsuit, which was originally filed in 2019) to include the comments Trump made about Carroll on CNN.
Carroll “is now seeking a ‘very substantial’ additional amount in response to his insults,” The New York Times reports.”Ms. Carroll’s filing Monday in Manhattan federal court seeks to intensify the financial pain for Mr. Trump.”
Twelve days ago on CNN, Trump “echoed his earlier denials about the episode, calling her account ‘fake’ and a ‘made-up story.’ Despite a photograph showing them together, he claimed again that he had never met Ms. Carroll, 79, called her a ‘wack job’ and said the recent civil trial was ‘a rigged deal.'”
Her amended filing “argues Mr. Trump’s defamatory statements following the verdict ‘show the depth of his malice toward Carroll, since it is hard to imagine defamatory conduct that could possibly be more motivated by hatred, ill will or spite.'”
“This conduct supports a very substantial punitive damages award in Carroll’s favor both to punish Trump, to deter him from engaging in further defamation, and to deter others from doing the same,” it also says.
