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By Ewan Palmer
News Reporter
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Writer E. Jean Carroll has likened Donald Trump to a "walrus" while describing her reaction to receiving more than $83 million in damages from her defamation lawsuit against the former president.
In an interview on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, Carroll, a former Elle columnist, mocked Trump for his demeanor in the New York courtroom during the civil trial, as well as saying that the verdict from the jury shows that "we don't need to be afraid" of the former president.
Carroll sued Trump over claims he defamed her character while denying that he sexually assaulted her at a Bergdorf Goodman store in New York in the 1990s, including claiming she made up the attack to sell copies of her book. On January 26, a jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in compensatory damages and punitive retribution following a civil trial to settle the lawsuit, which Trump said he will appeal.
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Speaking to Maddow on Monday, Carroll described how she and her legal team were "laughing and crying all at the same time" after winning the case against Trump while also also hitting out at the Republican.
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"I feel that this bodes well for the future. I think we have planted our flag. I think we have made a statement that things are going to be different, that there's going to be a new way of doing things in this country because of this indestructible team of lawyers," Carroll said.
"Together, this team of brilliant young people stood up to the man, who, by the way, Rachel, is not even there. He's nothing, he is like a walrus snorting and like a rhino flopping his hand," Carroll added.
Carroll said she was originally intimidated by the prospect of coming face to face with Trump after she came forward with the sexual assault claim, but when she saw him at the New York court saw he was "nothing."
"He was a phantom. It was the people around him who were giving him power. He himself was nothing. It was an astonishing discovery for me. He's nothing. We don't need to be afraid of him. He can be knocked," Carroll said.
Trump's office has been contacted for comment via email.
The writer had already successfully sued Trump for sexual battery and defamation in a separate lawsuit, where a different jury awarded her $5 million in damages in May 2023.
Elsewhere in her interview with Maddow, Carroll said that throughout the proceedings she was also "fighting for all women" as well as all victims of sexual abuse.
"We are doing this for women around the country who have been knocked down repeatedly," Carroll said. "And so it's really not about me anymore. We have moved beyond me. The fight now is really to take back our future. This is a man who stacked the Supreme Court, took away women's rights over their own bodies."
"We would like to be a part of turning our eyes to the future and taking back our rights," she added.
In a statement, Trump said it is "absolutely ridiculous" that he has now lost two defamation lawsuits filed against him by Carroll.
"I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party. Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA," Trump said.
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