Trump Uses CNN Town Hall to Mock E. Jean Carroll After a Jury Found Him Liable For Sexually Abusing Her

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Dayton International Airport on November 7, 2022 in Vandalia, Ohio Credit - Drew Angerer—Getty Images

A day after a jury found him liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll, Donald Trump used a CNN Town Hall to mercilessly mock her and her allegations

“She was a wack job,” Trump said during the live event.

The former President ridiculed Carroll’s account of their meeting in a Manhattan apartment store. “What kind of a woman meets somebody and brings them up and within minutes you’re playing hanky panky in a dressing room?” Trump said. “This is a fake story.”

A jury in New York City on Tuesday found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defaming Carroll after she went public with her allegations that Trump assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room, and awarded Carroll $5 million for battery and defamation. The jury did not find Carroll proved her allegation that Trump raped her. Trump has denied all of her allegations and said he would appeal the verdict.

Read more: Trump Declines to Rule Out Reviving Family Separations During CNN Town Hall

Speaking with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, Trump also doubled down on comments he made during an Access Hollywood film shoot in 2005 in which he justified groping women by saying, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” During a deposition for the Carroll trial, Trump appeared to defend those comments.

When Collins asked if Trump would take those comments back, he refused. He went on to defend a type of social order where wealthy and famous people get away with doing what they want.

“For a million years, this is the way it’s been. I want to be honest, this is the way it’s been,” Trump said. “If you’re a famous person, if you’re a star, and I’m not referring to myself, I’m saying people that are famous, people that are stars, people that are rich, people that are powerful, they tend to do pretty well in a lot of different ways, ok? And you would like me to take that back? I can’t take it back because it happens to be true.”

Read more: Inside Trump’s Strategy to Turn Legal Woes Into a Political Advantage

That is the way it is, Trump said, “fortunately or unfortunately for her.”

Trump said the judge wasn’t fair to him in the trial.

Asked what he says to voters to believe the jury verdict that he sexually abused Carroll disqualifies him from being President, Trump said, “Not too many of them because my poll numbers just came out. They went up.”