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What happens after the decision on sexual abuse against former president Trump?

2023-05-11 08:35:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

A Manhattan jury on Tuesday found that former US President Donald Trump must pay $5 million in damages for sexually abusing former journalist E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and defaming her by calling her a liar. .

Here's a rundown of what might happen next:

WILL FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP APPEAL THE DECISION?

Yes. Mr. Trump's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said he would challenge the judge's ruling, Lewis Kaplan, which he called unfair. To succeed on appeal, Mr. Trump must prove that Judge Kaplan made errors in the application of the law in various rulings and that doing so deprived him of a fair trial.

Attorney Tacopina told reporters that among other things, he will appeal Judge Kaplan's decision to allow jurors to listen to the Access Hollywood tape in which Mr. Trump was heard talking about touching women's genitals without consent. theirs. Jurors also watched videos of Mr. Trump defending those comments.

Experts say former President Trump does not appear to have a strong case for appeal, noting Judge Kaplan's experience and the high professional level of lawyers on both sides appear to have ensured a fair trial.

Ms. Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to Judge Kaplan, told ABC's "Good Morning America" ??on Wednesday that Mr. Trump had absolutely no chance on appeal because the judge did his best to ensure that the proceedings were strictly followed.

CAN MR TRUMP PAY 5 MILLION DOLLARS?

Maybe. In addition to the Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida, Mr Trump owns several golf courses in the US, Scotland and Ireland.

The former president cannot use campaign funds to pay, but he can try to raise funds from supporters who believe his claims that the case was orchestrated by political opponents.

Mr. Trump's supporters have donated without hesitation to his causes in the past. During his presidency, they gave more than $25 million to a campaign organized by his former adviser, Steve Bannon, to support the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico.

WILL FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP PAY AND WHAT HAPPENS IF HE DOESN'T?

Mr Trump took a defiant stance after the ruling, saying he had never met Ms Carroll and insisting the suit was aimed at derailing his bid to retake the White House in 2024.

He has paid in previous cases to end court proceedings while denying the charges against him.

In 2018, he paid $25 million to students at the now-defunct Trump University who claimed they had been duped into paying thousands of dollars for bogus business seminars. He pleaded not guilty to any wrongdoing under the agreement.

Mr Trump is likely to secure a court order that he does not have to pay Ms Carroll while the appeals process continues.

Ms. Carroll and her lawyers have a number of legal options to get that amount from his properties or other sources of income if Mr. Trump refuses to pay.

Ms. Carroll said on CNN on Wednesday that her case was "not about money" but rather about getting "my name out there."

WILL THIS AFFECT MR. TRUMP POLITICALLY?

That's not yet clear, but some political strategists said the impact is likely to be small. Animosity toward Mr. Trump among potential Republican voters grew when Manhattan prosecutors charged him with falsifying business records related to hush-hush payments he allegedly made to a pornographic actress. Mr. Trump's campaign announced it had raised $14.5 million in the first three months of this year, and that contributions accelerated sharply after he said he would be indicted in mid-March. But some political analysts say the decision could hurt Mr. Trump's chances with college-educated women living in the suburbs, a key demographic.

HOW LONG CAN THE APPEAL PROCESS TAKE?

An appeal can be resolved quickly, but federal appeals courts sometimes take a year or more to issue decisions. Ms. Carroll has another defamation suit against Trump, which has stalled on appeal since she filed it in 2020, though it poses a unique legal challenge. Ms. Carroll only accused Mr. Trump of defamation in that case because the statute of limitations on her sexual assault claim had expired.

She filed her second lawsuit in 2022 after New York passed a law allowing sexual assault claims to be filed when under other circumstances, the window to do so would have been closed.

A federal appeals court overturned a ruling by Judge Kaplan in that case earlier this year and sent it back to him to decide whether a law protecting government employees from defamation claims applies in this case.

WHAT OTHER LEGAL ISSUES IS MR. TRUMP FACING?

In addition to the Manhattan hush-money case, former President Trump faces two criminal investigations overseen by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith into his retention of classified documents after leaving office and his impeachment efforts. the result of the 2020 elections.

He also faces a criminal investigation by a prosecutor in the state of Georgia in connection with his efforts to overturn a 2020 election loss in that state.

Former President Trump has denied all allegations in these cases and has called himself the victim of a politically motivated witch hunt./ Voa