Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist David Cay Johnston, who wrote the 2016 biography The Making Of Donald Trump , suggested why the former president is doubling, tripling, quintupling down on attacking his accuser E. Jean Carroll.
I think hes hoping the jury awards far more than $10 million because then he can go out and say, See, its further evidence the system is against you, Johnston told MSNBC s Joy Reid on Thursdays broadcast of The ReidOut.
Trump will be able to complain that its a New York jury, which of course is code for, theyre not Christian, and theyre not white, Johnston explained. And that will appeal to his base, but it wont broaden his support, which is what he needs.
Carroll is seeking $10 million in damages from Trump for defamatory comments he made about her when he was president. The trial is ongoing.
Last year, a jury found Trump liable for the sexual abuse of Carroll in a New York department store in the 1990s. He was also found liable for defaming her after she made the accusation and ordered to pay her $5 million in total.
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Johnston argued Trump doesnt expect to ever pay this, just as he doesnt believe hell ever go to jail.
But it doesnt mean that in his jumbled mind, hes also not terrified, Johnston said. He is. But I think his goal here is get an enormous award from this jury so that he can use it to stir up his base.
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