E Jean Carroll discusses her $83M settlement on ‘GMA’, reveals plan to spend it on ‘something Trump hates’

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Columnist E Jean Carroll appeared with her attorney Roberta Kaplan on 'Good Morning America' for an interview with co-host George Stephanopoulos three days after she was awarded $83.3 million for being repeatedly defamed by Donald Trump.

She pledged on air to spend the money on "something Donald Trump hates," saying, "I'd like to give the money to something Donald Trump hates. If it'll cause him pain for me to give money to certain things, that's my intent."

When the co-host asked what she had in mind, Carroll suggested that she would create a "fund for the women who have been sexually assaulted by Donald Trump".

Why did Donald Trump defame E Jean Carroll?

Carroll had come forward in 2019 with allegations that the former president had sexually assaulted her back in 1996. It was then that he made two defamatory statements over which a jury ordered him to pay the lump sum as compensation. They took less than 3 hours to reach their verdict on January 26, after a trial that lasted two weeks.

A separate jury had found Trump guilty of sexual assault and defamation in 2023 and ordered him to pay Carroll $5 million.

The allegations have been repeatedly denied by Trump, who even attended 5 days of the defamation trial as well as doubled down on his claims while testifying. After the latest sentencing, he has promised to appeal the verdict.

Donald Trump's behavior made the case for E Jean Carroll

The behavior of the businessman as a "bully who can't follow the rules" only validated the central thesis of her case, claimed Kaplan.

Mentioning that Trump walked out of the courtroom during her closing statement, Kaplan shared, "I definitely thought we got a few more million dollars immediately. I was like, well, that's worth about $10 million."

The attorney was confident about the money being collected, saying that Trump could either pay a bond or deposit the money in full until he appeals.

"I'm pretty confident one way or the other. We might not get it right away. But one way or the other, he owns a lot of real estate. It can be sold. We will collect the judgment," she added.