Donald Trump, the former president who is already facing 91 criminal indictments for election subversion, retention of classified documents and hush-money payments to a porn star, suffered another significant legal setback on Wednesday when a federal judge ruled in favor of E. Jean Caroll, the writer against whom Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and fined $5 million for defamation, in a second defamation case.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who last month dismissed Trump's counterclaim against Carroll, again found the ex-president liable for making defamatory statements in a summary judgment handed down Wednesday. Kaplan's ruling does not give Trump's attorneys room to re-examine Carroll's core allegations of rape or defamation. With the decision finding the majority of the defamation case in Carroll's favor, the trial, set to be held in January, will be limited to determining damages. Kaplan also rejected Trump's argument that any future damages be capped.
