Trump accuser.
Egypt, Carol,
is seeking new damages in her lawsuit
against the former president
after he repeated his statements
about her in a CNN town hall.
Let's get some more right now
from CNN's Kate in Poland.
Caitlin,
what more can you tell us
about Carol's latest request?
Well, Wolf, remember that
Jean Carol, that columnist
that she had
had, that
major lawsuit
that she won against Donald Trump,
where she was able to convince a jury
he should be liable for sexual abuse
and for defaming her
about an interaction
in a department store years ago.
That lawsuit is over
and she got a big award out of it,
a $5 million
award from that jury
that Donald Trump will have to pay her.
This is about a very similar case
that still in the court system.
It's about similar things
he was saying about aging, Carol,
during the time he was president.
So it's still going
through the court system.
And what each and Carol's
lawyers are doing right now
is they're going to court
and they're saying
we want to beef up our case against him
because of how Donald Trump responded
to aging, Carol, after that jury verdict.
So here is one of the things
that Donald Trump said
just a day after the jury in New York
decided to award her
many, many millions of dollars
about what she was able to say
he should be liable for.
Here's Trump at a town hall with CNN
They said he didn't rape her
and they didn't
I didn't do anything else either.
You know what?
Because I have no idea who she is.
Can I ask?
They said, sir, don't do it.
This is a fake story
and you don't want to give it
credibility.
One thing you can go.
One thing you did do in this.
And I swear and I've never done that
and I swear to I have no idea
who she's a president.
So, Wolf, this is an ongoing case
where it's
not just that
that Trump
was saying to Kaitlan Collins on CNN.
He was also posting on social
about aging, Carol, just the day
after that jury verdict in New York
in the complaint that she had won.
But this other civil lawsuit, it's
another thing
that Eugene Carol is
clearly still pushing in court
and trying to really twist the knife
and trying to convince the judge
that not only should she win
another defamation case
about Donald Trump,
about all of the things
he has said about her,
that he has demeaned her.
She says that he
is denying abusing her still,
but also that maybe
it should be considered
what he was saying
after that jury verdict,
because maybe he should be punished
even more
if the jury finds in her favor,
if the judge finds in her favor Wolf.
Caitlin, I want you to stay with us.
I also want to bring in our legal experts
for more analysis right now.
I'll start with Shannon.
Will, you just heard that
reminder of Trump's comments.
Chad, how do you assess
Jean Carroll's latest case here?
I think those comments help a lot.
It's particularly
telling that they were made, obviously,
when he's not the president anymore.
And it really tees up
a difficult issue
for the Justice Department
because they've taken this position
that this lawsuit involving comments
he made when he was president,
that they feel
they should be defending him
because those may have been actions
taken during his presidency.
I think that's a very
embarrassing position for them to be in.
I think it's weak,
but they still have that position
at the moment.
And it'll be interesting to see
if the verdict
as well as these comments
that are clearly not when he
is president,
how that factors into whether the DOJ
wants to maintain that position or not.
Nancy, Eric Smith is with us as well.
How notable,
Nancy, is the timing here
that these comments came exactly a day
after a jury
found Trump liable for sexual abuse
and for defamation
It's it's really
shocking
the level of lawlessness
and disregard for the rule of law.
Juries, judges, aging.
Carol and her lawyers may actually do
more to end Trump lawlessness
than the entire Justice
Department and Merrick Garland together.
It is important to note,
as was just mentioned,
that Trump is saying that the taxpayers
have to defend him.
The Department of Justice,
which he impugns on a daily basis,
should defend him
because he defamed somebody
while he was the president.
I agree. That's a weak argument.
I think it just got weaker
because the law means nothing to him
and he keeps defaming her.
And I don't think she wants to twist
the knife
as much as stop him from defaming her.
And he has no respect for the law.
Caitlin, you're doing
a lot of reporting on this.
What will Jean Carroll's process
of seeking additional damages
actually look like?
Well, you know,
she is just asking to amend
the complaint right now.
So that just is making
what she would have to prove in court
or bring to court, argue to court
a little bit longer.
And adding in
some of these things that happened
after Trump was president
and after that jury verdict.
But this is still an issue
that is going through the courts
on whether Trump
can even be held liable for this
and like she mentioned,
whether there is a situation
where the Justice Department
can substitute in for him
as he was serving as president, where the
the main piece
of what this lawsuit is about covers.
So that is that's
where is really being looked at right now
in the courts
on whether or not
Donald Trump as president
has some sort of protection
and that is going to have to get
figured out
before any of this other stuff
will be considered a sham. How will.
How do you think
the Trump legal team
will defend the former president?
Well, I think,
first of all,
they're really honing in on this point
that Caitlin
just made about this
legal defense, saying
that it is really DOJ
that should speak to him
because he has some kind of protection
for his comments as president.
Secondly, I think I mean, they'll likely
take the same tactic
that they did originally
Definite defamation.
I mean, it's
the truth is the fence type of thing.
So they really don't have to
retry, relitigate all the facts
of that case.
I do think there's a big difference here.
Again, mounting pressure on DOJ.
The deposition
that was used released
during the Carol trial
that just happened,
that does not help Trump's argument
that he was doing something as president.
I mean, there's nothing about that
deposition in the case.
This is some sort of a policy thing
that he's consulting
anyone that just sounds like he's
you know, plain up insulting her.
We'll see what happens on this front.
Guys, thank you very much.