E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer: Trump has ‘no legitimate arguments’ for appeal
“I rarely feel more confident about an appeal than I do on this one,” said Robbie Kaplan, Carroll’s lawyer.
E. Jean Carroll’s legal team says they’re confident that any appeal from former President Donald Trump has “no legitimate argument” after a jury found him liable of sexually abusing and defaming the writer on Tuesday.
“I’ve rarely felt more confident about an appeal than I do about this one,” said Robbie Kaplan, Carroll’s lawyer, on NBC’s “Today” Wednesday morning. “They have no legitimate arguments for appeal.”
A federal jury in New York found that Trump sexually abused and defamed Carroll, who accused him of attacking her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. After deliberating for three hours, the nine-person jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million.
Following the decision, Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said the former president would appeal because “they rejected the rape claim and they always claimed this was a rape case, so it’s a little perplexing. But we move forward.”
Trump vented his frustration with the case in a dozen Truth Social posts, accusing the judge of bias, calling the case a “witch hunt trial” and denying knowing who Carroll is.
“I HAVE NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN, WHO MADE A FALSE AND TOTALLY FABRICATED ACCUSATION, IS. HOPEFULLY JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED ON APPEAL!” Trump wrote Wednesday morning.
Carroll told CNN on Wednesday morning that she shook Tacopina’s hand after the trial and told the lawyer, “he did it and you know it.” Tacopina smiled but didn’t verbally respond, she said.
While Carroll testified that Trump raped her in a dressing room in 1996, the jury found that Carroll did not prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Trump had committed that crime.
When pressed on how she felt about the verdict on CNN, Carroll deferred comment to her lawyer. But when asked again, she provided some insight:
“Well, I just immediately say into my head, ‘Oh yes you did, oh yes you did.’ See, that’s my response,” she said, referring to the rape accusation. Even though he wasn’t found guilty of rape, sexual abuse is a “very, very serious offense,” Kaplan added.
Kaplan said she expects Trump’s legal team to draw out the process but predicted the case will be settled within a year.
“The courts are already familiar with his strategy of delay, delay, delay, so I don’t think he’s going to be able to delay very much here,” Kaplan said on MSNBC Wednesday. “I’d expect tops six months to a year, maybe even sooner if we can get them to expedite.”