In an interview with Slate's Dahlia Lithwick, the attorney for E. Jean Carroll, who just won her client a $5 million judgment against Donald Trump, dropped a few bombshells on the former president including hinting at future legal problems for him as well as the high cost of not paying up promptly.
Speaking with Lithwick, Roberta Kaplan claimed she has been paying close attention to what Trump has said about her client since he lost the civil case that affirmed he not only defamed the New York writer but also that he sexually assaulted her decades ago in a department store dressing room.
Asked about Trump's comments during his highly controversial CNN town hall, where he called Carroll a “wack job,” claimed the trial was “a rigged deal,” as well as asking the laughing pro-Trump audience, "What kind of a woman meets somebody, and brings them up, and within minutes you're playing hanky panky in a dressing room?" Kaplan said his comments were duly noted and could come into play if she files another defamation civil suit.
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"I knew he would continue to deny it. But once the jury came back and the CNN Town Hall was on, we knew they were going to ask about it. And we knew he wasn’t going to say, 'OK, now I admit it, I was wrong. I’m so sorry E. Jean, that I did that to you. We knew that wasn’t gonna happen," she explained. "I think I was a little stunned that he used exactly the same language. He basically repeated the defamation in ways that make it very easy for us to not have to prove a future case on the merits, because we’re gonna get what’s called collateral estoppel or issue preclusion. So that wasn’t maybe wisest thing for him to do."
Adding, "I’m watching to see if he keeps doing it, though. I mean, I think the threat of [losing] more and more money may ultimately tone down what he says at some point," she continued to explain that the former president is on the clock to pay the $5 million that jury ordered him to cough up.
"I think he understands money. One thing Donald Trump understands is money, and $5 million for Donald Trump is not nothing. And there’s really no viable appellate argument. So he’s going to have to pay that $5 million with interest sooner than he thinks he’s gonna have to pay it," she explained before adding, "He’ll have to pay interest from the time of the judgment. Yeah. That’s 9 percent … I’m not even sure he’s got $5 million in liquidity. He may have to sell something to pay you the $5 million."
You can read more from the interview here.
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