E. Jean Carroll says how she feels about the jury in Trump's hush money criminal case

E. Jean Carroll beat Donald Trump. Twice.

And she is confident that the jury empaneled in his criminal hush money trial is going to meet the moment.

"I think that it’s a New York jury, they’re the smartest in the world, with all political backgrounds," she told TIME while appearing at the 2024 TIME100 in the city. "They will make the right decision."

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The jurors are tasked with a historic verdict to determine if the former president falsified business records to pay for the silence of two women who alleged they had sexual affairs with him to manipulate the outcome of the 2016 election.

The 80-year-old former Elle magazine columnist, who proved in two trials that the former president defamed her after she came forward about being sexually accosted by Trump back in the 1990s inside of a dressing room of a Manhattan department store, was awarded nearly $100 million in damages.

Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee for president, is appealing the decisions and maintains his innocence and denied any such conduct occurred.

That appeal effort took a step back after a federal judge rejected Trump's bid for a new trial.

The second ruling upheld the jury's $83.3 million damage award — $17.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages. It came after she won the first trial and with a federal judge upholding the $5 million damages a jury awarded her.

"Contrary to the defendant's arguments, Ms. Carroll's compensatory damages were not awarded solely for her emotional distress; they were not for garden variety harms; and they were not excessive," wrote Judge Lewis Kaplan. "Mr. Trump's malicious and unceasing attacks on Ms. Carroll were disseminated to more than 100 million people.

"They included public threats and personal attacks, and they endangered Ms. Carroll's health and safety."

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