While speaking to supporters at a rally in Michigan Saturday evening, Donald Trump mocked E. Jean Carroll just weeks after a jury ordered the former president to pay $83.3 million in damages.
The Republican presidential front-runner addressed his recent legal woes to the crowd at the campaign stop in Waterford Township, Michigan. Shortly after he took the stage on Saturday for a Get Out the Vote Rally ahead of the state's GOP primary at the end of the month, Trump ranted about a civil fraud trial that resulted in him being fined roughly $355 million and banned from conducting business in New York for three years.
After talking about the fraud case outcome, Trump referenced the verdict of the Carroll case during his speech.
Trump was ordered by a New York City jury on January 26 to pay Carroll $83.3 million for statements he made in 2019 when denying allegations that he sexually assaulted the former Elle columnist in the mid-1990s. The legal blow arrived after a separate jury in May 2023 concluded that Trump had sexually abused Carroll and then defamed her character when he called her accusation a "con job" in an October 2022 Truth Social post. Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages in the case, but the former president said the verdict was part of "the greatest witch hunt of all time." He continued to criticize Carroll publicly, after which she launched the second defamation case.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, calling the latest verdict "absolutely ridiculous" and said he would appeal.
Newsweek reached out via email on Saturday night to Trump's representatives for comment.
While discussing his legal battles, Trump appeared to mock Carroll at the rally on Saturday.
"How about the one two weeks ago?" Trump asked the crowd. "A woman, I'm saying, 'Who the hell is she? Who is the woman?' It's so unfair what's happening in our country. Our court system is a mess. What's happening in our country, they have to straighten it out."
Trump's reference to Carroll at the Michigan rally was quickly pointed out on social media by critics of the former president.
A 16-second video of Trump's comments amassed more than 620,000 views on X, formerly Twitter, in just a few hours after it was shared by Journalist Aaron Rupar.
"Trump attacks E Jean Carroll, who he was found liable of assaulting and has repeatedly defamed: 'I'm saying, who the hell is she? Who's the woman," Rupar wrote on X.