A federal judge granted E. Jean Carroll’s request to amend her defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump to seek $10 million in damages.
Last month, a nine-member jury found Trump liable for sexual battery and defaming Carroll and granted her an award of $5 million in damages. The jury awarded Carroll $2 million in damages for the sexual battery claim and $3 million for defamation.
Shortly after the verdict, Trump appeared in a CNN town hall event where he repeated claims that he did not know Carroll, despite being photographed with her in the 1990s.
“What kind of a woman meets somebody and brings them up and within minutes, you’re playing hanky-panky in a dressing room, OK?” Trump said at the CNN town hall event. “I swear on my children, which I never do, I have no idea who this woman is. This is a fake story, made-up story.”
“I had a picture taken years ago with her and her husband — nice guy — John Johnson. He was a newscaster, very nice man. She called him an ape. Happens to be African American, called him an ape. The judge wouldn’t allow us to put that in,” Trump added.
“Her dog, or her cat, was named ‘Vagina.’ The judge wouldn’t allow us to put that in — all of these things — but with her, they could put in anything: Access Hollywood,” he said.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan granted Carroll’s attorneys’ request to amend the original defamation suit to include Trump’s CNN town hall comments.
“We look forward to moving ahead expeditiously on E. Jean Carroll’s remaining claims,” Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan said after Judge Lewis’ order.
Lewis granted Carroll’s request’s dispute Trump attorney Alina Habba’s argument that an amendment to the lawsuit would “severely and unduly prejudice” Trump.
“We maintain that she should not be permitted to retroactively change her legal theory, at the eleventh hour, to avoid the consequences of an adverse finding against her,” Habba said in a statement after.
Trump’s legal team has filed a notice of appeal to overturn the jury verdict.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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