What could E. Jean Carroll do with $83 million?

Good morning. It's Monday and we'll be looking at the $83.3 million verdict in the defamation case against Donald Trump. We also get details on the fallout from a traffic stop in Harlem involving a city council member.

If $83.3 million came your way, how would you spend it? You could:

E. Jean Carroll, who received $83.3 million in damages in her defamation case against Donald Trump, has already thought about what to do with that amount of money. She told our colleague Benjamin Weiser that she wanted to “do something good with it.” That could rule out the condos, yacht or lot in the Hamptons.

But she said she can now afford one extravagance: premium dog food. She has a Great Pyrenees and a pit bull. The price of $83.3 million would buy 767,034 cans of Ziwi Peak Venison Recipeat $10.86 for each 13.75 ounce can.

Carroll called the outcome of her case a victory for women. Trump, who described the verdict as “absolutely ridiculous,” may ultimately have to hand over the $83.3 million, but not before exhausting all his appeals. That process can take months, perhaps longer.

Well before then, Trump will probably have to pay something.

He could send the $83.3 million to the court, which would hold the money until the appeals are decided. He took that approach last year when a jury ordered him to pay Carroll $5 million in a related case.

The sentence for the verdict is higher than he can expect from his political action committee, which he has used to cover his legal fees and other costs. But he has enough cash in various accounts, a person close to him said. Trump has pocketed $375 million by selling his Washington hotel in 2022, and several other deals have trimmed his holdings.

As our colleagues Ben Protess and Maggie Haberman have noted, Trump is reluctant to hand over large amounts of cash at once. So another strategy would be to secure a bond, which would avoid having to pay out the entire $83.3 million at once.

He would have to find a financial institution that would put up an eight-figure sum for someone with legal problems like him. He would also likely be asked to put up a deposit and collateral, and he could expect to be charged interest and fees.

Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump after he called her a liar in June 2019, when she first publicly accused him: in a magazine article, of sexually assaulting her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Trump continued his attacks on his Truth Social website and at press conferences even during the trial. Carroll testified that his tirades left her open to hostility on social media and “shattered” her reputation. She had been an advice columnist for Elle magazine since 1993, but… in February 2020, she tweeted: “Because Trump made fun of my reputation, laughed at my appearance and dragged me through the mud, ELLE fired me after 26 years. I don't blame Elle. It was the great honor of my life to write “Ask E. Jean.” I blame @realdonaldtrump.”

More financial uncertainty could be in store for the former president. As the trial for Trump's civil fraud case drew to a close on January 5, the judge said he would try to make a decision by the end of the month.

In that case, New York Attorney General Letitia James asked Judge Arthur Engoron to fine Trump about $370 million for what she called his unlawful conduct. The amount is far more than the $250 million she estimated when she filed the lawsuit in 2022.

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The latest Metro news

Yusef Salaam, the newly elected New York City Councilman who was wrongly convicted in 1990 as a member of the Central Park Five, was driving through Harlem on his way to dinner on Friday evening when a police car pulled him over.

An officer walked up to Salaam's blue sedan and asked him to roll down the tinted windows. When the officer reached the driver's side, Salaam identified himself as a council member. The officer asked Salaam if he was working. Salaam said yes and asked why he had been stopped.

The official did not answer that question. “Be careful, sir,” he said to Salaam.

The stop immediately sparked outrage. Salaam, who represents Harlem and was recently appointed chairman of the Council's Public Safety Committee, and his allies said the incident showed the need for transparency when police stop people. Salaam said Sunday that the officer should have given a reason for the stop.

Other elected officials said it was an example of using an official position to avoid a ticket.

The police have released images from the officer's body-worn camera, along with a statement saying the officer stopped Salaam because the dark tint on the windows went “beyond legal limits” under state law. The affidavit also noted that the car had a Georgia license plate. Mayor Eric Adams defended the stop as “a perfect example” of a professional and courteous police response.

METROPOLITAN diary

Bowling shirt

Dear Diary:

I was in graduate school in Manhattan and had a student job as a costume store manager in the basement of a building in Washington Square.

The same guard was at the reception every day and sometimes we had a chat. Finally, I explained that I worked in the costume shop, and he told me that he lived alone, took a long bus ride every morning, and liked to go bowling with his team on Tuesdays.

One day he came to the store in his bowling shirt with a decorative patch in his hand. He asked rather shyly if I could help him. He usually applied the band-aids, but they always came off when the glue got too old.

I told him I would be happy to help. I sewed the new patch on, neatly taped the other one in place, and brought the shirt back to him at the end of the day. He thanked me profusely and I said it had been no problem.

A few weeks later, I arrived at work on a freezing day as the wind blew cold rain through the streets. As usual, I said hello to my security guard friend.

A few hours later he came to my basement workshop with a cup of chili and a bowl of rice. They were both burning hot.

“You looked so cold this morning,” he said. “And it's one of my favorite lunches. I go to the Chinese restaurant next door especially for the rice.”

I left after that semester and never learned his name. But now it's also one of my favorite lunches.

— Claire Dawson