Donald Trump ordered to pay $83.3mn in defamation trial

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

A New York jury has ordered former president Donald Trump to pay $83.3mn for defaming the writer E Jean Carroll after she accused him of sexual assault, the latest courtroom setback for the former US president who is battling multiple legal cases as he fights to return to the White House.

The verdict, which was handed down on Friday, comes atop the $5mn Trump was ordered to pay Carroll after a separate trial in May, in which a jury found that he had sexually abused, but not raped, her.

The bill could soon grow steeper, with the former president also facing potential damages upwards of $350mn in a separate fraud trial involving his family business, the Trump Organization. A New York judge is expected to issue his judgment before the end of the month.

Carroll’s lawyers had argued that Trump should pay at least $24mn in damages in the latest trial. Jurors deliberated for just a few hours before returning their decision. The award on Friday included $65mn in punitive damages, which are meant to punish or deter.

The verdict capped yet another ill-tempered trial in which the former president trampled on courtroom etiquette and provoked the ire of a respected judge. In one characteristically ornery display on Friday he stormed out of the courtroom during closing arguments.

On Friday evening Trump vowed in a post on his Truth Social social media network to appeal against the decision: “Absolutely ridiculous! . . . Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon.”

Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said he believed Trump’s conduct had contributed to the jury’s decision. “He just displayed throughout the trial that he had nothing but contempt and disdain for anyone involved in it,” Tobias said, adding that it was “pretty obvious he wasn’t chastised and hadn’t taken to…