However, life is not a game. Defamation demands consequences. Now, not after an eternity of appeals.
Donald Trump once again defamed E. Jean Carroll on Monday. This time, it was an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on March 11. Trump also complained about losing a civil fraud case and the upcoming “hush money” trial (31 felony charges) brought by Manhatten District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg.
On Friday, Trump posted a $92,000,000 bond, a promise to pay (with interest) Carroll who won her second defamation case against Trump in January 2024.
Carroll won her first case last year, when a jury found that Trump had “sexually abused” her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City and then defamed her when he lied aabout it.
In June 2023, Trump gave a court-controlled account $5,500,000 as a promise to pay Carroll $5,000,000 should he lose an appeal of that first jury verdict.
Trump insisted he was the victim, prompting a sharp rebuttal from Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. The jury, Kaplan pointed out, found that Trump “‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’” He pointed out that the legal definition of “rape” in New York state is “far narrower” than the common connotation.
Note: Kevin Breuninger, the CNBC reporter, exhibited lazy reporting in his summary of the interview. He repeated, unchallenged, Trump’s claims of innocence. Breuninger finally included the fact that a jury had found Trump guilty of sexual assault in the closing paragraphs of a 24-paragraph story. There were also eight bullet points before the important back story.
News organizations: stop giving Trump a megaphone to spread lies, then repeat those lies in written work.
Trump defamed Carroll on Saturday night in a small community (population 38,000) in my home state of Georgia as he whined about needing to post bond.
Trump describes E Jean Carroll's claims against him as "false accusations" even after a jury found him liable for sexual assault pic.twitter.com/sChFXKLPYY
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 10, 2024
Trump also defamed Carroll in Michigan in February.
Last month, one of Carroll’s attorneys raised the possibility of a third suit against Trump after he lashed out about the most recent defamationverdict against him during a rally in Michigan. “We’re watching, we’re listening,” Carroll’s lawyer, Shawn Crowley, told MSNBC. “We had really hoped that, as I think the jury found, that $83 million would maybe be enough to convince him to keep E. Jean Carroll’s name out of his mouth. Apparently, he showed us this weekend that he really cannot control himself and that maybe it wasn’t.”
As attorney George Conway pointed out on Twitter, CNBC is located in New York City, the site of both defamation wins for Carroll. That makes this latest defamation a more logical one for Carroll to contest than either Georgia or Michigan.
Trump’s behavior is unrepentant.
His behavior as president, should he assume that mantle a second time, would be no less unrepentant.
Voters need to know: is Trump consciously lying or is he lying because he is mentally impaired?
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Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com