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E. Jean Carroll wants to donate the $83 million in damages she will receive from Donald Trump to a cause that “he hates” and “will hurt him.” The 80-year-old columnist said the elation she felt was “almost painful” when a Manhattan jury awarded her the staggering amount Friday for the former president defaming her in 2019 and calling her a liar when she accused him of sexual assault. She is now considering setting up a fund for women “sexually abused” by Trump and has threatened to file a new lawsuit if he discredits her online again.
Carroll told Good Morning America that she burst into tears as she “exchanged a smile” with the jury as she walked out of the courtroom. It was the second time a New York jury ruled in her favor against Trump in a case stemming from her allegations that he raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s. Trump, 77, has consistently denied the attack ever happened, insists he never met Carroll and has already vowed to appeal the verdict.
The jury ordered him to hand over $7.3 million for “emotional damages,” another $11 million for “reputational damage” and $65 million for “punitive damages” for publicly attacking her character. “The elation was so great on Friday,” she said with her attorney Roberta Kaplan. ‘It filled me. It was almost painful.
“Today I am very happy because I am calm enough to realize what she (Kaplan) did.” Carroll is now considering what “great things” she wants to do with the settlement, including donating to a charity for “women sexually assaulted by Donald Trump.”
“I don’t want to waste money,” Carroll said when asked what she was going to do with the money. ‘I have an idea. I’d like to give the money to something Donald Trump hates. That will hurt him to care about certain things. “Maybe a fund for the women who were sexually assaulted by Donald Trump.”
Trump called Friday’s verdict “ridiculous” as he returned to the campaign trail in Nevada. The Republican frontrunner in the presidential race was not in court when the verdict was read.
But hours earlier, he stormed out when Kaplan told the jury they had to punish him. He has also blamed President Joe Biden for his legal troubles, claiming he is being targeted because he is ahead in the polls. Carroll and Kaplan know they may not get the damages right away, and hinted he may have to sell some of his real estate. Describing the weeks leading up to the trial, Carroll said she “couldn’t eat, couldn’t do anything.”
When she next saw Trump in the courtroom, she said, “He was like nothing.” ‘I looked outside. He was like nothing. Like an emperor without clothes. ‘It was a great reaction. It’s probably because she took my hand and made me feel safe. ‘He is the emperor without clothes. He’s not there. It’s not there.’
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