Columnist E. Jean Carroll, who won a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation award against former US President Donald Trump, is seeking at least $10 million more from the former President in a new court filing that seeks to hold him liable for remarks he made after the verdict, The Associated Press reported on Monday.
An amended lawsuit seeking the $10 million in compensatory damages &mdash and more in punitive damages &mdash was filed in Manhattan on Monday by lawyers for Carroll, according to the report.
The lawyers said in the rewritten lawsuit that he “doubled down” on derogatory remarks about Carroll at a cable television appearance a day after the verdict.
“Trump”s defamatory statements post-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,” the lawyers wrote. “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.”
A nine-person jury two weeks ago ruled that Trump had sexually abused Carroll at an upscale Manhattan department store in early spring 1996 and ordered him to pay $5 million.
In the new claim, Carroll”s lawyers said Trump, “undeterred by the jury”s verdict, persisted in maliciously defaming Carroll yet again” the next day during a “town hall” event hosted by CNN.
“He doubled down on his prior defamatory statements, asserting to an audience all too ready to cheer him on that “I never met this woman. I never saw this woman,” that he did not sexually assault Carroll, and that her account &mdash which had just been validated by a jury of Trump”s peers one day before &mdash was a “fake,” “made up story” invented by a “whack job.” Those statements resulted in enthusiastic cheers and applause from the audience on live TV,” the lawyers wrote.
In an interview with Fox News Digital following the verdict, Trump said he would appeal the verdict and his lawyers later filed the notice of appeal in the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.