In a discussion this Monday on MSNBC, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance predicted that Donald Trump would eventually pay up the entirety of major, financial penalties with which he’s been hit in court proceedings originating with civil claims by writer E. Jean Carroll.
A pair of federal juries at successive trials decided on a grand total of nearly $90 million in penalties, including $83.3 million just at the second trial, which covered claims that Carroll made of defamation.
“The reality is, even though there will be an appeal, even though it may take some time, Donald Trump will pay every last penny of this money to E. Jean Carroll,” Vance predicted. She noted that Trump could, in theory, cover the penalties from other sources, including donations from supporters across the country, assuming the legality is handled.
The successful defamation claims made by the writer referred to Trump’s vitriolic responses to her account of the eventual president sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. Trump kept antagonizing Carroll after he left office as president, and Carroll accordingly expanded the allegations she’d brought.
Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan, who handled both trials, reacted harshly to the Trump team’s antics at the second set of proceedings, which only recently concluded. Kaplan even threatened Trump with expulsion from court at one point. The judge also directed at times that Trump lawyer Alina Habba be seated and/or otherwise put herself in check as she waged a wavering attempt at defense. He quipped that Habba was nearing a personal stint in confinement as she again tried to redirect things under pressure for Trump’s team allegedly trying to use materials as evidence that weren’t formally entered into the trial’s evidentiary record.
Another major point of contention was the Trump team’s unsuccessful push to put proceedings on hold ostensibly so the ex-president could attend his mother-in-law’s funeral. Trump was not obligated to attend trial, eliminating procedural foundations by which he could have more recognizably demanded corrective action.
