E. Jean Carroll could sue Trump again over new attacks, lawyer suggests
Three days after Donald J. Trump posted a $91.6 million bond in the defamation case he recently lost to writer E. Jean Carroll, her attorney suggested Monday that she was considering filing another defamation lawsuit against the former president.
The lawyer raised the prospect of a new trial after Mr. Trump repeatedly lashed out at Ms. Carroll in recent days, using the same disparaging language that led to the huge judgment against him in January.
“The statute of limitations for defamation in most jurisdictions is between one and three years,” Roberta A. Kaplan, Ms. Carroll’s attorney, said in a statement Monday morning. “As we said after the jury’s final verdict, we will continue to monitor every statement Donald Trump makes about our client.”
In a separate court filing, Ms. Kaplan told the federal judge overseeing the case that she and Mr. Trump’s lawyers had reached an agreement on the details of his proposed $91.6 million bond. The bond – provided by the Federal Insurance Company, an arm of the insurance giant Chubb – will prevent Ms Carroll from collecting her multi-million dollar judgment while Mr Trump appeals the defamation judgment.
The judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, still must approve the proposed bond, which he could do as early as Monday.
The race to secure bond before Monday’s deadline came as Trump was on the clock to secure bond for another major verdict in a civil fraud case brought by the New York attorney general’s office . In that case, Mr. Trump must post a nearly half-billion-dollar bond by March 25 or the attorney general’s office could seize his assets while he appeals.
Mr. Trump lacks the money to float both bonds at once, putting him in financial jeopardy at an already hectic time. Mr Trump also faces four criminal charges – with the trial in the first case set to begin in two weeks in Manhattan – as he looks set to become the Republican presidential nominee for a third time.
Although the former president brags about his billions, his net worth is largely derived from the value of his real estate. A recent New York Times analysis shows he has more than $350 million in cash, far less than what he needs to obtain bonds in either case.
An appeal bond is a promise from the company that it offers to cover a judgment if a defendant — in this case, Mr. Trump — loses an appeal and doesn’t pay. In return, Mr. Trump must pay the company a premium and pledge collateral, including as much cash as possible.
Mr. Trump has attacked Ms. Carroll twice in recent days, using the kind of language that led to two defamation findings against him, most recently the $83.3 million jury award in January.
On Saturday night at a rally in Rome, Georgia, Mr. Trump complained bitterly about the bond he was forced to post, insisting that Ms. Carroll’s accusations were false and saying she was “not a credible person.”
Mr. Trump doubled down on those comments Monday morning during a telephone interview with CNBC, mocking Ms. Carroll as “Miss Bergdorf Goodman,” a reference to the luxury Manhattan department store where he said he sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s. . In the interview, Trump called the decisions against him “ridiculous,” without further explanation.
“I was indicted — I was charged with a false accusation and had to post $91 million in bail on a false accusation,” said Mr. Trump, who was not actually criminally charged in the case.