Four months after a jury found in a civil trial that Donald Trump

had

sexually abused and slandered

writer advice columnist

E. Jean Carroll, a federal judge, ruled

on

On Wednesday, it turned out that even more comments from the ex-president about her were defamatory. The decision means an upcoming second lawsuit will only cover how much more

Trump hey

have to pay here.

The ruling should significantly streamline the second trial, due to take place before January, following comments Trump made in 2019 after Carroll first publicly claimed he sexually assaulted her in a dressing room following a chance encounter at a luxury department store in 1996. He denies anything happened between them.

The first trial, this spring, centered on the sexual assault allegation and whether some of Trump’s comments about her in 2022 were defamatory. Jurors awarded Carroll $5 million because they found she had been sexually assaulted but not raped.

The jury considered and decided issues common to both cases, including whether Mr. Trump falsely accused Ms. Carroll of fabricating her assault charge and, if so, that he did so with the knowledge that this accusation was false or acted recklessly. disregard for the truth, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in Wednesday’s ruling.

Kaplan wrote that the substantive content of the 2019 and 2022 statements was the same. And when the jury found that Trump had indeed sexually assaulted Carroll, it effectively determined that his 2019 statements were also false and defamatory, the judge said.

Carroll and her attorneys look forward to a trial limited to damages for the original defamatory statements made by Donald Trump, her attorney Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, said.

Trump attorney Alina Habba said Wednesday his legal team is confident the jury’s verdict will be overturned, making the judge’s new decision moot.

Trump, the first-leader in the polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is seeking to postpone the second trial pending an appeals court to decide whether he is legally protected from the case. He claims immunity because he was president when he made the 2019 remarks.

For now, at least, the trial will begin on January 15, the day of the Iowa Republican caucuses.

The Carroll case is part of a series of legal problems Trump faces as he campaigns to return to the White House.

In four criminal indictments, Trump is variously accused of trying to reverse his loss in the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden; mishandling top secret documents and trying to hide that he had done so; and falsifying company records to cover up a hush money payment he made to porn actor Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign. She claims they had a sexual encounter, which he denies.

Some criminal trials against Trump are expected to overlap with the presidential primaries season. So is a civil trial in New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James’ lawsuit accusing Trump and his company of defrauding banks, insurers and others by inflating asset values ​​and his net worth. Trump has denied the allegations, boasting that he has the most popular brand in the world,” and accused the Democratic attorney general of engaging in a political vendetta.

A judge on Wednesday refused to postpone the trial, which was due to take place next month

Oct

.

Carroll initially sued Trump in 2019, saying he smeared her name by saying she made a false accusation while trying to sell a new book and suggesting she might be a Democratic operative.

The world should know what’s really going on. It’s a shame, and people should pay dearly for such false accusations, Trump had said. He claimed he had never met Carroll and brushed off a 1987 photo of the two and their then-husbands at a social event.

As that case unfolded, Carroll filed another lawsuit last year under a New York state law that waived a legal time limit for filing sexual assault charges. That lawsuit, which went to trial last year, contained allegations that Trump defamed Carroll in 2022 by calling the case a complete scam and scam. The lawsuit over the 2019 statements remained separate.

Trump, meanwhile, responded with a libel suit against Carroll for saying after the verdict that she had not only been sexually assaulted, but also raped. The judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit last month.