A federal judge ruled that the jury hearing E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit will only need to decide how much money Donald Trump will have to pay her, after the judge found the former president was liable for making defamatory statements.

The finding is a significant blow to Trump, who is facing numerous criminal indictments and civil lawsuits – many of them coming to a head as he embarks on a presidential campaign.

Judge Lewis Kaplan said that a federal jury’s verdict earlier this year against Trump will carry over to the defamation case set to go to trial in January involving statements Trump made in 2019 about Carroll’s sexual assault allegations.

    • @WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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      3310 months ago

      Just strip him off his wealth and through him in a dementia prison ward already. He’s too demented to ever shut the fuck up.

  • @kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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    6410 months ago

    So… do you think he has the objectivity to regret all of his actions yet? Not regret as in that he did anything morally wrong because he’s far too much a narcissist to think that. But rather regret that he put himself in the crosshairs to be actually held to account for the first time when he’s previously been able to mostly get away with criminal shit his whole life.

    If he hadn’t run for office, he could have continued to be just another sleazeball rich gangster wannabe in New York and probably lived out the rest of his life without any real consequences for being a piece of shit. He’d have been insulated by low expectations and mostly being a forgettable joke of a man. But now that he poses a real and ongoing danger to the public and democracy itself, people are motivated to hold him liable for his dozens of crimes in several major high profile cases.

    Do you think he wishes he’d have just stayed in Manhattan and continued screwing people over in his property deals and business schemes? I bet it keeps him up at night, and it should.

    • @TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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      4510 months ago

      Go back and look at the photo the night he won in 2016. Everyone else is smiling, clapping, and having a grand old time.

      He is not.

    • comedy
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      3810 months ago

      Remember the look on his face when he won? He was horrified! Same when he first met with Obama and they had a joint press conference. His body language was like, “oh fuck, what am I even doing here.”

      I think regret is hard for him though, because to regret something means you have to feel, in some way, you could have done something better or differently. You have to take ownership of bad feelings and in your part of bad outcomes. I just don’t think his brain will let that happen. Everything bad is always someone else’s fault.

      But yeah…maybe in some dark, cobweb encrusted corner of his mind, he wishes he was just a NY scam artist and fake “tycoon.” It served him well enough, as you noted.

    • @TheJims@lemmy.world
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      1610 months ago

      He’s incapable of all those feelings. His personality disorders won’t allow him to feel regret or remorse. On another note his personality disorder absolutely will not allow him to not respond to this decision by defaming Ms Carroll again.

    • @Elderos@lemmings.world
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      1310 months ago

      His ego is more important than his instincts of self-preservation. He ran on spite because he fucking hated Obama for some reasons, maybe for dunking on him on that special dinner. Anyway, he’s too busy being in constant war mode to ever self-reflect. He thinks all he ever did is perfect, it’s all Biden’s fault you know.

      • @tym@lemmy.world
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        410 months ago

        Don’t discount the fact he could never impress his dad. Dudes on that kinda shit yknow?

    • AFK BRB Chocolate
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      1310 months ago

      I agree with the people saying he didn’t really plan or expect to win, but I think you have to at least balance that with the fact that becoming president brought him more fame, more power, the adoration of millions of (disgusting) people, new avenues for bilking people out of their money, etc. No matter what the price that’s gone along with it, I don’t see any possibility that he regrets running/winning. As always, he just blames other people for anything bad that came from it

    • squiblet
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      310 months ago

      I think for him, the increase in fame, millions of adoring nitwits and ability to swindle vast amounts in a novel way makes up for it.

    • Flying Squid
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      1810 months ago

      This one won’t imprison him, but hopefully it will empty his pockets.

          • @PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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            610 months ago

            His lawyers are almost undoubtedly requiring retainer fees to cover everything. There’s no way they’d be stupid enough to work on contingency or expect to collect payment after the fact. He’s probably having to write them new checks for every single week that they continue working on his case, and I can guarantee that they’re getting the bank to verify those checks before they actually accept them.

      • Veraticus
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        610 months ago

        Okay, fair, but also I love that as a general statement.

        • Flying Squid
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          710 months ago

          That’s fine. I want him locked up too. I just didn’t want you to get your hopes up in this case.

  • Granite
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    1810 months ago

    If he COULD just stop lying for 2 seconds. But I do believe he is literally incapable.

  • @Rapidcreek@reddthat.com
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    1110 months ago

    I don’t know civil case law well, but I have to think a jury being handed a summary judgement of fact to purely determine damages… can’t be good.

    • @Specific_Skunk@lemmy.world
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      2410 months ago

      They already found him guilty in the 2022 defamation case. The 2019 case is for the same thing (at a different time, he did it more than once) so the judgement effectively covers both cases. He’s already been found guilty, now it’s just time to determine damages. Again.

      And if he keeps repeating the same lies, they’ll keep charging him. Now it’s just a game of “will he stfu or go broke first?” My chips are on “broke”.

  • squiblet
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    810 months ago

    Has he or will he ever actually pay her anything, though?

    • Jaysyn
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      10 months ago

      IIRC he had to put the money in trust to appeal the first verdict, so she probably already has it her her bank account. He has way too much property to be judgement-proof.

      I hope she beats him like a pinata.

      • squiblet
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        410 months ago

        That’s great! I hope so. If it’s not in a trust, even without being judgement-proof it can be difficult to get people to pay anything, like you have to pay people to physically seize their property or file additional lawsuits.