Questions have been raised as to whether Donald Trump could be sued again after he mocked and insulted former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll a day after he was ordered to pay her $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages over sexual battery and defamation claims.
The former president made the comments during his CNN town hall appearance, returning to the network for the first time since 2016 to answer questions from moderator Kaitlan Collins and an audience of GOP voters in New Hampshire on Wednesday night.
Ahead of the broadcast, CNN was criticized for giving the 2024 candidate—who is still under investigation for allegedly inciting the January 6 attack and attempting to overturn the 2020 Election results—a prime time slot.
Some expressed fears that Trump would use his appearance on CNN to attack Carroll, with the town hall being held one day after a New York jury ruled that the former president sexually abused Carroll at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s, then defamed her while denying the accusations.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during an event at the Mar-a-Lago Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on April 4, 2023. Questions have been raised as to whether Trump could be sued again after he mocked and insulted E. Jean Carroll a day after he was ordered to pay her $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages over sexual battery and defamation claims. Alex Wong/Getty Images
As feared, Trump did insult Carroll when he was asked about the jury's ruling in the civil trial, which saw the former president ordered to pay her $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
"This is a fake story. Made up story," Trump said Wednesday. "I have no idea who the hell she is. She's a wack job.
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"What kind of woman meets somebody and brings them up, and within minutes you're playing hanky-panky in a dressing room?" Trump said, prompting laughter from the audience.
Legal experts and political commentators have now suggested Carroll could file a new defamation lawsuit against Trump after his latest comments.
"I hate that CNN allowed E. Jean Carroll's name to be dragged through the mud again by this terrible man. Sure she could sue him for defamation again," tweeted Sherrilyn Ifill, lawyer and former director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
"That doesn't change the hurt & humiliation at the laughter, and at the knowledge that CNN was willing to expose her to this," she wrote.
I hate that @CNN allowed E. Jean Carroll’s name to be dragged through the mud again by this terrible man. Sure she could sue him for defamation again. That doesn’t change the hurt & humiliation at the laughter, and at the knowledge that CNN was willing to expose her to this. — Sherrilyn Ifill (@SIfill_) May 11, 2023
MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin wrote: "Tonight felt like watching a bad law school exam fact pattern unravel. And now, I am pondering the preclusive effect, if any, of yesterday's verdict on Trump's defenses to any new claims by E. Jean Carroll or just elements thereof (e.g., the falsity prong of defamation)
"And the other pressing question: Would Trump be the sole defendant?"
Olivia Troye, who served as a homeland security and counter-terrorism advisor to former Vice President Mike Pence, said: "Still processing what happened in that CNN Trump town hall…But one moment was especially horrid…and E. Jean Carroll should sue Trump all over again."
However, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman downplayed suggestions that Carroll should launch a fresh defamation suit against Trump.
"Lots of questions about [whether] Carroll can sue again for new defamation. Yes, & it would be interesting to do so & continue to add counts," Litman tweeted. "But I doubt she will: she can now claim vindication, and why rock that boat? Plus her damages [would] date only from the new defamation I.E very small."
Newsweek has contacted Trump's office and Carroll's legal team for comment via email.
New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was also condemned CNN for allowing Trump to attack Carroll.
"There is simply no way CNN can feign ignorance about the fact that they set up a sexual assault victim to be targeted and attacked on national television a day after the verdict," she tweeted. "People were sounding the alarm about this exact scenario. They let it happen anyway without a plan."
In a statement, a CNN spokesperson said: "Tonight Kaitlan Collins exemplified what it means to be a world-class journalist. She asked tough, fair and revealing questions. And she followed up and fact-checked President Trump in real time to arm voters with crucial information about his positions as he enters the 2024 election as the Republican frontrunner.
"That is CNN's role and responsibility: to get answers and hold the powerful to account."
SteveTheZombie on May 11st, 2023 at 13:36 UTC »
Did anyone else notice earlier in the day, when Joe Biden gave a live address to the nation about the debt ceiling, the way CNN was broadcasting it?
They have this new 'video wall' where they stream in clips of whatever they want, usually while a news person stands in the foreground of the shot. During Bidens speech, his video feed was this tiny picture in picture type thing surrounded by other CNN logos, a picture of the Whitehouse, and then large amounts of the empty floor and wall. I have a 75 inch TV and the President was being broadcast in a 5 inch square and the rest of the video was graphical interface or the empty room...
Also the camera is on this slow pan, wobble thing where it zooms in and out on the video wall....
Who the fuck authorized that shit? Then during the Town Hall, Trump was broadcast in full screen HD...
MichaelFusion44 on May 11st, 2023 at 13:03 UTC »
That town hall was an embarrassing event for CNN - it was a bad idea from the start but even worse after the sexual assault verdict and CNN should have cancelled it. Also he basically steamrolled the interviewer with his same old tired stories and carnival barking. How the hell anyone could support this POS let alone give him a national audience to spew his ish.
TheBigBaffi on May 11st, 2023 at 12:51 UTC »
Good idea to slander the woman you already owe 5 million..