**ANCHOR:**
Good evening. A pivotal legal development is unfolding in New York. Former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll has been awarded $83.3 million in damages by a federal jury in her defamation case against former President Donald Trump.
**WHAT:**
The jury reached the verdict on Friday, January 26, 2024, in a civil trial focused on damages, not liability. This follows a previous jury finding in May 2023 that Mr. Trump had sexually abused Ms. Carroll in the mid-1990s and subsequently defamed her. The current award includes $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages, intended to punish Mr. Trump for his continued public statements denying the assault.
**WHO:**
The parties involved are plaintiff E. Jean Carroll, 80, a longtime advice columnist, and defendant Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States and current frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. The case was overseen by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in the Southern District of New York.
**WHERE:**
The trial took place in federal court in Manhattan, New York City. The defamatory statements in question were made by Mr. Trump from the White House and later at campaign events and on social media.
**WHEN:**
The jury reached its verdict after approximately three hours of deliberation on January 26, 2024. The underlying incident of alleged sexual assault occurred in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan, approximately in the spring of 1996.
**WHY:**
The jury determined that Mr. Trump’s repeated denials—which included calling Ms. Carroll’s account a “hoax” and a “con job”—constituted defamation, causing significant harm to Ms. Carroll’s reputation and mental well-being. Judge Kaplan noted that the punitive damages were necessary to deter future false statements by the defendant