Trump is liable in the second E. Jean Carroll defamation case, judge rules; January trial will determine damages

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Trump is liable in the second E. Jean Carroll defamation case, judge rules; January trial will determine damages | CNN Politics
cnn.com

A federal judge ruled that the jury hearing E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit will only need to decide how much money Donald Trump will have to pay her, after the judge found the former president was liable for making defamatory statements.

The finding is a significant blow to Trump, who is facing numerous criminal indictments and civil lawsuits – many of them coming to a head as he embarks on a presidential campaign.

Judge Lewis Kaplan said that a federal jury’s verdict earlier this year against Trump will carry over to the defamation case set to go to trial in January involving statements Trump made in 2019 about Carroll’s sexual assault allegations.

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Keep 'em coming. You love to see it!

Just strip him off his wealth and through him in a dementia prison ward already. He's too demented to ever shut the fuck up.

So... do you think he has the objectivity to regret all of his actions yet? Not regret as in that he did anything morally wrong because he's far too much a narcissist to think that. But rather regret that he put himself in the crosshairs to be actually held to account for the first time when he's previously been able to mostly get away with criminal shit his whole life.

If he hadn't run for office, he could have continued to be just another sleazeball rich gangster wannabe in New York and probably lived out the rest of his life without any real consequences for being a piece of shit. He'd have been insulated by low expectations and mostly being a forgettable joke of a man. But now that he poses a real and ongoing danger to the public and democracy itself, people are motivated to hold him liable for his dozens of crimes in several major high profile cases.

Do you think he wishes he'd have just stayed in Manhattan and continued screwing people over in his property deals and business schemes? I bet it keeps him up at night, and it should.

Go back and look at the photo the night he won in 2016. Everyone else is smiling, clapping, and having a grand old time.

He is not.

Remember the look on his face when he won? He was horrified! Same when he first met with Obama and they had a joint press conference. His body language was like, "oh fuck, what am I even doing here."

I think regret is hard for him though, because to regret something means you have to feel, in some way, you could have done something better or differently. You have to take ownership of bad feelings and in your part of bad outcomes. I just don't think his brain will let that happen. Everything bad is always someone else's fault.

But yeah...maybe in some dark, cobweb encrusted corner of his mind, he wishes he was just a NY scam artist and fake "tycoon." It served him well enough, as you noted.

He’s incapable of all those feelings. His personality disorders won’t allow him to feel regret or remorse. On another note his personality disorder absolutely will not allow him to not respond to this decision by defaming Ms Carroll again.

I agree with the people saying he didn't really plan or expect to win, but I think you have to at least balance that with the fact that becoming president brought him more fame, more power, the adoration of millions of (disgusting) people, new avenues for bilking people out of their money, etc. No matter what the price that's gone along with it, I don't see any possibility that he regrets running/winning. As always, he just blames other people for anything bad that came from it

His ego is more important than his instincts of self-preservation. He ran on spite because he fucking hated Obama for some reasons, maybe for dunking on him on that special dinner. Anyway, he's too busy being in constant war mode to ever self-reflect. He thinks all he ever did is perfect, it's all Biden's fault you know.

Don't discount the fact he could never impress his dad. Dudes on that kinda shit yknow?

I think for him, the increase in fame, millions of adoring nitwits and ability to swindle vast amounts in a novel way makes up for it.

So many trials with this guy.

Maybe all the winning he promised us was the numerous lawsuits against him along the way?

The most trials. I hear they’re the best trials.

Lock him up!

This one won't imprison him, but hopefully it will empty his pockets.

right before he needs cash for all his other trials.

It's not like he ever pays his lawyers anyway.

His lawyers are almost undoubtedly requiring retainer fees to cover everything. There’s no way they’d be stupid enough to work on contingency or expect to collect payment after the fact. He’s probably having to write them new checks for every single week that they continue working on his case, and I can guarantee that they’re getting the bank to verify those checks before they actually accept them.

Okay, fair, but also I love that as a general statement.

That's fine. I want him locked up too. I just didn't want you to get your hopes up in this case.

If he COULD just stop lying for 2 seconds. But I do believe he is literally incapable.

I don't know civil case law well, but I have to think a jury being handed a summary judgement of fact to purely determine damages... can't be good.

They already found him guilty in the 2022 defamation case. The 2019 case is for the same thing (at a different time, he did it more than once) so the judgement effectively covers both cases. He’s already been found guilty, now it’s just time to determine damages. Again.

And if he keeps repeating the same lies, they’ll keep charging him. Now it’s just a game of “will he stfu or go broke first?” My chips are on “broke”.

Has he or will he ever actually pay her anything, though?

IIRC he had to put the money in trust to appeal the first verdict, so she probably already has it her her bank account. He has way too much property to be judgement-proof.

I hope she beats him like a pinata.

That's great! I hope so. If it's not in a trust, even without being judgement-proof it can be difficult to get people to pay anything, like you have to pay people to physically seize their property or file additional lawsuits.

Not a Trump hater, nor a fan of most of the prosecutions against him, but we all should have seen this coming, given both his notorious sexual past alongside the earlier ruling that sided with E. Jean Carroll regarding this matter:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/jury-reaches-verdict-e-jean-carroll-rape-defamation-case-trump-rcna82778

Why are you "not a fan of most of the prosecutions against him"?

Not parent commentor, but I hate to see prosecutions feed the news cycle for visibility and outrage. Plus, it fires up the base. Def a dual edged sword.

You're not a fan of people being charged for crimes because... it's on the news?

That's a new take. I'll give you a point for creativity I guess.

I think they’re saying we should be nice to Trump or his cult will get angry.

Which is funny because we’ve been through that already and it was kind of underwhelming then.

Sure... we could have seen it coming because he committed the crime wide open in public.