E. Jean Carroll is “overjoyed” and feels she got justice from the jury and court today, her attorney told CNN's Anderson Cooper.
“I almost don’t have adjectives to describe it,” Roberta Kaplan said, when asked about how Carroll responded to the verdict. “She is overjoyed. She cried. She showed more emotion – and I’ve known her for a long time now – than I’ve ever seen her show.
“She feels that she got justice from the jury today and from the court. And she feels she really stood up, and she has, stood up for almost every woman who’s been defamed, who’s been kicked down, who’s been shut up,” she added.
“I think she feels she really played a part in making things better for women everywhere.”
She also told Cooper:
- On Trump walking out during closing statements: “I think it hurt him terribly. I mean, our whole case is about the fact that Donald Trump is unable to follow the law, unable to follow the rules, he thinks they don’t apply to him. As bad as what he did to E. Jean Carroll was – and the sexual assault was terrible – and as horrifying as the defamation was back in 2019, the most amazing, shocking part of it all is that he kept on doing it and he kept on doing it even during the trial."
- On the size of the jury's award: "All he really understands is money and so you should award an amount of money that will make him stop. Whether that will succeed, I don’t know, I sure hope it will.”
- On whether Trump will pay damages: “I think he’s gonna have to pay – and whether it requires him to sell something or to put a lien on something to get a loan, that’s his problem, not ours. He’s gonna pay, and Judge (Lewis) Kaplan, through judgment-enforcement mechanisms, will make sure that he pays. And indeed, even to take the appeal, he’s going to have to at least put up a bond of 20% of the amount.”
The post was updated with more of Roberta Kaplan's remarks in her interview with Anderson Cooper.