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In his ruling issued Wednesday, Sept. 6, in US District Court in Manhattan, Judge Lewis Kaplan said Carroll has already proven that Trump defamed her, and the upcoming trial will only decide how much the former president must pay her in damages.
Wednesday’s ruling comes after a federal jury in the first lawsuit awarded Carroll, now age 79 and living the Hudson Valley, in Orange County, total damages of nearly $5 million. That includes $2.7 million in compensatory damages for the defamation claim and $2 million for the sexual battery claim.
Carroll made headlines in June 2019 when she claimed in a cover story for New York Magazine that Trump raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s.
Trump repeatedly denied the allegations, saying he never met Carroll and that she is “totally lying” to sell her memoir and is “not my type.”
The second defamation case centers around similar comments that Trump made in 2019 while he was president.
"The truth or falsity of Mr. Trump's 2019 statements therefore depends — like the truth or falsity of his 2022 statement — on whether Ms. Carroll lied about Mr. Trump sexually assaulting her,” Kaplan wrote.
“The jury's finding that she did not therefore is binding in this case and precludes Mr. Trump from contesting the falsity of his 2019 statements.”
Kaplan also shot down an argument by Trump’s attorney that any damages awarded in the second trial should be reduced in light of the $5 million that Carroll was already awarded.
Carroll sued Trump under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily gives victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file a civil claim, even if it occurred decades ago.
The former president did not attend the first trial and has denied any wrongdoing in the second lawsuit.
In an all-caps statement on Truth Social following the first verdict, Trump denied knowing who Carroll is, and called the verdict a "disgrace," saying it was "a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time."
Trump's second civil trial to determine monetary damages is set to begin on Jan. 15, 2024.
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