According to a professor's testimony in a federal jury in New York, repairing the damage to E. Jean Carroll's reputation caused by defamatory statements made by former President Donald Trump in 2019 could cost as much as $12.1 million.
Northwestern University professor Ashlee Humphreys provided testimony on Thursday to determine the number of people who saw and believed Trump's statements denying any sexual assault or even meeting Carroll. The judge has already ruled that the statements were defamatory, and the jury is now responsible for determining the appropriate amount of damages to be awarded to Carroll. It is worth noting that a separate jury previously found Trump liable for sexual abuse and another defamatory statement.
Although Trump attended the first two days of the damages trial, he was not present in the courtroom on Thursday. Instead, he was in Florida attending his mother-in-law's funeral.
In 2019, a story was published in New York magazine accusing Trump of assaulting Carroll in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Trump denied the accusation. After the story came out, Carroll faced criticism and received graphic threats, including rape and murder. Some of these threats were presented to the jury on Wednesday.
Humphreys, an expert witness, analyzed articles, tweets, and TV broadcasts that mentioned Trump's defamatory statements about Carroll. She assessed the number of people who saw these stories or segments on the same day they were published or aired. Based on her analysis, she concluded that the damage to Carroll's reputation as a journalist was "severe." The pieces had as many as 104,132,285 impressions on the first day and an estimated 24,788,657 viewers believed the claims.
Humphreys also examined comments made about Carroll prior to Trump's defamatory statements. She found that Carroll was known as a truth-teller and a sassy advice columnist. However, after the statements, Carroll was perceived as a liar and a Democratic operative.
According to Humphreys, the cost of repairing Carroll's reputation would range from $7.3 million to $12.1 million.
During the trial, Carroll testified for over a day. Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, cross-examined Carroll and pointed out that some celebrities praised Carroll after her trial victory over Trump in May 2023. Habba asked Carroll if she is now more well-known than before she made her allegations.
"Yes, I'm more well-known, and I'm hated by a lot more people," Carroll said.
Habba also displayed negative tweets that users posted during the five-hour period in 2019 between her allegations becoming public and Trump first commenting.
Under questioning by her own attorney, Roberta Kaplan, Carroll said that during that window she was the subject of mean tweets, but did not receive rape or death threats, and was not accused of being a Democratic operative working against Trump.
Kaplan also played a brief video clip of Trump repeating his denial of Carroll's claims during a speech in New Hampshire on Wednesday. Throughout the trial, Kaplan and other attorneys for Carroll have pointed to ongoing allegedly defamatory statements said by Trump, including in recent days, and indicated they want the jury to award more than just an amount needed to fix Carroll's reputation.
They've said they want the jury to decide "how much money he should pay to get him to stop doing it."
