Trump's 'ill will' attacks on Carroll could make his new damages much worse: experts

Former President Donald Trump is already facing a $5 million payout for sexual abuse and defamation from columnist E. Jean Carroll's litigation — but it could be about to get much worse for him, experts told Salon in an analysis published Wednesday.

The problem for Trump, some experts have said, is his ongoing repetition of claims already judged defamatory establishes a pattern that could be used to boost punitive damages far higher.

“The damages will be calculated from 2019 when the subject statements were made, and since it covers a longer period of time than the damages awarded in the first trial, the damages could be more,” said L.A. libel law lawyer Tre Lovell. “Also, Trump’s constant posting and tweeting about Ms. Carroll could have an effect on punitive damages, suggesting he is targeting her out of ill-will and spite.”

Carroll alleges Trump raped her in a New York City department store in the 1990s, although she can't recall the precise date of the alleged attack. Trump maintains that he has no idea who she is and she fabricated the attack to get famous, which was the foundation of Carroll's defamation claim.

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She later also added sexual battery charges to the suit after a New York statute created a new mechanism to bring such suits. Judge Lewis Kaplan has already instructed the jury currently considering the matter that the facts of the sexual abuse are settled and not to be reconsidered, as the new trial is purely about assessing damages.

Hamline University political science professor David Schultz called the case "unusual" in part because "Most individuals having lost, stop the defamation. But here the issue is not so much that it is an ex-president or Trump, but that the issue is a billionaire who has deep pockets and is willing to keep spending money to defame someone. The court may need to think of punitive damages at a significantly higher level than perhaps we have ever seen in defamation cases."

He said a parallel might be the recent suit by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News for knowingly spreading conspiracy theories about their voting equipment, which led to the right-wing network paying out an almost $800 million settlement.