The trial finished up this morning and because jury instructions were expected to take a while I was thinking we might not get a decision until Monday. But it seems the jury didn’t need long to decide how much former president Trump should pay for additional instances of defamation. In fact, it only took them 3 1/2 hours.

You may recall that in a previous civil trial Trump was found liable and ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll a total of $5 million. In this trial, Trump’s liability was not relitigated meaning he was already assumed liable for sexual assault of Carroll the only issue was how much additional money Trump would have to pay. And the amount this time is eye-popping. Get a load of these punitive damages:

The jury found Trump should pay Carroll compensatory damages of $18.3 million — $11 million to fund a reputational repair campaign and $7.3 million for the emotional harm caused by Trump’s 2019 public statements.

Trump should also pay $65 million in punitive damages for acting maliciously in making the statements about Carroll, the jury found.

The total is more than eight times what Carroll asked for in her initial lawsuit.

All of that adds up to $83.3 million. Trump, who was present for most of the trial left the courthouse before the verdict was read. He reacted to it on Truth Social.

“Absolutely ridiculous! I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party. Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!”

Notice what he did not say anywhere in that statement? He did not say that E. Jean Carroll is a liar or a con artist or that she’s not his type, etc. He has lost this case about as badly as he could lose it but he could keep losing even more if he’s not careful moving forward. What do you think a jury does to him the third time around if the $65 million in punitive damages doesn’t stop him?

As for all of this being part of a Biden directed plot, this is the place Trump called home for many years. As John Yoo pointed out on Fox News, Trump’s problem in this case wasn’t Joe Biden, it was a jury made up of regular people. They clearly just want him to shut up.

Fox reax to E. Jean Carroll verdict: "The whole point of this … is to tell Donald Trump to shut up … Not just that he should stop insulting Jean Carroll, but he has to stop disrespecting the justice system … he's showing a fundamental disrespect for the justice system" pic.twitter.com/tN6rVczoVm

— Lis Power (@LisPower1) January 26, 2024

Anyway, it was a very good day for E. Jean Carroll who is going to be a very rich woman. Not a very good day for Trump’s attorney who came close to be held in contempt.