When E. Jean Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan makes her closing argument, expected on Friday, she will ask the jury in the high-profile defamation trial to hit Donald Trump so hard in the wallet that he will fear attacking her client once again.
That is the opinion of MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin, who explained to the "Morning Joe" panel on Friday morning that the former president could be on the hook for tens of millions of dollars in punitive damages above the estimated $12.1 million reportedly being sought by the New York writer.
Asked by MSNBC contributor Katty Kay, "What is the scale of compensation of damages we are looking at here?" Rubin suggested the dollar amount could be astronomical.
"First of all, something far more than what she was awarded last time, where the award was $5 million, based on her sexual assault and defamation claims from one incident in October 2022," Rubin replied.
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'You and I both know, when you tell a lie after the first time, it's far more damaging," she continued. "Her lawyers are asking for 20 plus million dollars to compensate her for her injuries, and then four, five, six times that for punitive damages."
"It's not clear to me they will actually ask for a specific amount or even multiplier of the compensatory damages," she elaborated. "They will say think about what he told you: he was worth billions and billions and billions in his brand alone, he has $400 million cash on hand — make it hurt."
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MSNBC 01 26 2024 06 06 58youtu.be
