Donald Trump’s lawyers are challenging the $5 million jury verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming journalist E. Jean Carroll, calling for either a new trial or a sharp reduction in damages. Because the jury determined Trump did not rape her at a department store in the ’90s, as she alleged in her lawsuit, his legal team called the $2 million awarded to Carroll for the battery claim “grossly excessive.” (The jury found he sexually abused her during the violent attack but couldn’t reach a liable conclusion that what he did could be classified as rape.) “Such abuse could have included groping of Plaintiff's breasts through clothing or similar conduct, which is a far cry from rape,” a Thursday filing said. Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina argued damages should be in the “low six-figure range.” As for the defamation claim, his lawyers said the $2.7 million damages “was based upon pure speculation” about the extent of the reputational harm Carroll said she endured from Trump denying he raped her. Carroll’s lawyer Robbie Kaplan described Trump’s arguments as “frivolous.”
