Even after a New York jury hit Donald Trump with $5 million in damages for sexually abusing and defaming columnist E. Jean Carroll, MAGA cable channel Newsmax still found a way to declare the former president the big winner.
“This was a major win for Donald Trump today,” one Newsmax guest exclaimed just minutes after the verdict was read.
With the jury taking just three hours to conclude that Trump had violently attacked Carroll in a department store in the 1990s and then defamed her following the assault, the pro-Trump network’s hosts and commentators quickly began making excuses for the ex-president.
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“There is no legal rape claim, of course,” anchor Katrina Szish declared as they prepared to hear the verdict. “Although...I think we’re going to hear that four-letter word thrown around a lot, whatever the verdict is.”
After Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but not for raping Carroll, right-wing radio host Sid Rosenberg latched onto that little bit of a silver lining to proclaim Trump the victor in his trial.
“Don’t worry about the money, whether it’s four dollars or five million that means nothing to Trump,” Rosenberg insisted during a Newsmax panel discussion. “He did not want to be labeled a rapist, he is not a rapist, they came back with no, so trust me when I tell you this was a major win for Donald Trump today.”
He added: “They will appeal it, and I guarantee you in the appeal, some of the damages and that abuse charge will go away too. But the main thing was, rape, yes or no? Came back no. That's a win for President Trump.”
Later in the program, perpetually wrong pundit Dick Morris advised Trump that he should actually increase his insults and attacks on Carroll, claiming it would increase his chances of reversing the damages on appeal.
“Look, all of these cases boiled down to Donald Trump versus the accuser. And in this case, it's a zero-sum game. And what Trump needs to do is to defame her a little bit more,” Morris said with a chuckle. “He needs to go after and say this happened so long ago, she waited to bring the charges, she did—she only talked about it after she got a $70,000 book advance.”
