Donald Trump was pulling up to his plane at LaGuardia Airport, set to travel to Nevada for a campaign rally Saturday, when the news came: A Manhattan jury said the former president should pay the writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her,
CNN reports.
Friday’s verdict capped off a week in which Trump had finished his sweep of the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, and wanted to shift his focus to President Joe Biden.
It was a vivid reminder that with a third consecutive Republican nomination within reach, Trump is fighting battles on several other fronts — including federal and state courtrooms, and an increasingly bitter Republican primary race against former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Both Trump and Biden are treating this weekend as the opening salvo of the general election, traveling to states where they are assured of winning their parties’ early-February nominating contests — Trump in Nevada, Biden in South Carolina — as they move closer to a rematch of their 2020 race.
Haley is also in South Carolina, where she’ll hold a pair of weekend events as she mounts a monthlong stand as Trump’s lone remaining Republican primary rival ahead of the Palmetto State’s February 24 primary.
Trump spent the week trying to turn the courtroom into a campaign space — appearing in person several times even though he was not required to do so; taking the stand for only a few minutes; and leaving before a verdict was announced, allowing his lawyer, Alina Habba, to speak to the news cameras gathered there on his behalf.
“Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!” Trump said Friday on his social media network Truth Social.
Through the 2024 Republican primary, Trump’s legal challenges — including federal and state charges stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election — have largely rallied conservatives to his side.
Haley, though, has infuriated the former president in recent days, as she has insisted on remaining in the GOP race despite finishing 11 points behind Trump in New Hampshire.
“Donald Trump wants to be the presumptive Republican nominee and we’re talking about $83 million in damages,” Haley said Friday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, following news of the Carroll verdict. “We’re not talking about fixing the border. We’re not talking about tackling inflation. America can do better than Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”
