Former President Trump is requesting a new trial in the case brought against him by E. Jean Carroll. Last month a Grand Jury found him responsible for sexual abuse, defaming the writer and journalist, and ordered him to pay $5 million in damages.
In a filing Thursday in a New York court, Trump’s team argued that the court “should either order a new trial for damages or grant remission.” He said the $2 million awarded to Carroll in the sexual assault verdict was “grossly excessive” because the jury found Trump had not committed rape but sexual assault.
“Donald Trump raped me,” journalist E. Jean Carroll told the jury
“That abuse could have included groping the breasts [de Carroll] through clothing or similar conduct, something very far from rape. Therefore, $2 million in damages for that conduct, which clearly did not cause any diagnosed mental injury to [Carroll]is extremely excessive according to the applicable jurisprudence”, argue the lawyers.
Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and then smearing her by denying the allegations.
The lawyers further maintain that the $2.7 million awarded for Carroll’s defamation claim was “based on pure speculation.”