She Did Not Cave
Guest article by Dina Doll
Before the law firms folded, E. Jean Carroll was already in court.
Before the media companies rewrote their standards, before the executives flew to Mar-a-Lago, before the institutions that were supposed to hold the line quietly decided they had more to lose than to gain, one woman had already made her choice.
She told the truth. She put her name on it. And she let a jury decide.
He lost. Twice.
She beat him. Twice.
The first jury awarded her $5 million after finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The second jury awarded her $83 million after finding he had spent years lying about her to protect himself.
And he is so desperate to reverse her victories against him that he has now deployed the full machinery of the federal government in his defense.
Trump has been waiting on the Supreme Court to take up his appeal of the $5 million verdict. He says the Access Hollywood tape and testimony from some of the other women should not have come in as evidence at trial. The justices have now discussed whether to take the case seven times without saying yes. Seven conferences. Seven times they could have denied or granted his appeal and moved on. This seems to say a lot more about the makeup of the Supreme Court right now than the merits of the case.
Now Trump wants the Supreme Court to save him from the $83 million verdict too.
His own Justice Department just intervened on his behalf.
The DOJ has now filed a brief arguing that the United States should be substituted as a defendant instead of Trump because he made those defamatory statements while he was President. That a sitting president commenting publicly on a rape accusation against himself was acting in an official capacity and cannot be held liable for it. If the United States is substituted under the Westfall Act, the case is dismissed because you cannot sue the United States government for defamation.
That is the ask. That is how desperate this has gotten.
One woman beat him in court. Then she beat him again. And now he is throwing everything he has at reversing those verdicts. The Supreme Court, which has now sat with his appeal seven times without acting. His own Justice Department. Every legal theory available to a man who also happens to control the executive branch.
Firms that spent decades building reputations handed them over to Trump without much of a fight. Companies that employed entire teams to protect their independence decided the math no longer worked. People who knew better said nothing, or worse, said something and then walked it back.
Carroll never recalculated.
She came forward when it was costly. She testified when it was brutal. She sat through the attacks on her character, her motives, her memory. She did not settle. She did not go quiet. She did not take a meeting and decide that half a loaf was better than nothing.
She went to trial. She went back to trial. She won both times.
The firms that folded to Trump had more resources than she did. The companies that bent had more lawyers. The powerful people who went quiet had more to bargain with.
She had a jury and the truth and she used them. Twice.
Trump has denied all of it. He denied it before the first trial. He denied it after. He denied it before the second trial. The juries heard every denial. The juries found against him anyway.
That is what accountability is supposed to look like. Evidence heard. Verdict reached. Loser pays.
But with Trump, when the Supreme Court has discussed your case seven times without rescuing you, you file a brief through the Justice Department.
Carroll’s lawyers have called the intervention an abuse of power. The law is not on Trump’s side here. Clinton v. Jones held that a president can be sued for private conduct even while he is in office. Commenting on a rape accusation against himself is not presidential business. A woman said a man assaulted her. She proved it to two separate juries. The man now controls the executive branch and his DOJ is filing on his behalf.
He has now lost to her more times than most people ever beat him at anything. He is desperate to reverse it.
Before the caving became a pattern, before it became the path of least resistance, before everyone found their reason to bend, Carroll had already chosen her path.
She did not wait to see which way the wind was going.
She did not cave.
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Dina Doll is an experienced attorney and legal analyst. She hosts the MissTrial podcast on MeidasTouch and co-hosts Unprecedented on Legal AF. Dina also serves as the legal expert for Access Hollywood’s Trial Files and provides regular legal commentary for CNN, NewsNation, and other national media outlets. In addition to her media work, she is a delegate to the California Democratic Party, a community activist, and a City Library Commissioner.
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She's not going to live forever. If Trump doesn't fork over the $88.5 million he owes her, it should be required that when HE finally dies, the money goes to her estate.
Power to The People. Women People!