Defaming Kolumnis, Trump Asked To Pay Compensation Of IDR 1.3 Trillion

Donald Trump/PHOTO via Instagram @realdonaldtrump

JAKARTA - The United States federal court jury decided to provide compensation money of US$83.3 million (Rp1.31 trillion), for a columnist for comments of defamation made by former president Donald Trump.

Trump issued the comments containing defamation when he took office in 2019 in connection with claims that he had sexually harassed the columnist in the 1990s.

The 77-year-old Republican presidential nomination candidate described the jury's decision as "completely ridiculous" and said he would file an appeal.

The columnist, Jean Carroll, claimed in a 2019 memoir and on various occasions Trump raped her in the dressing room of a New York department store in the mid-1990s.

Trump denied the allegations and said Carroll lied to sell his book, as reported by ANTARA from Kyodo-OANA

Carroll's side demanded Trump pay at least $24 million in compensation, and said Trump took advantage of his position as US president to attack Carroll's character.

The jury on Friday, January 26, issued a decision to compensate 18.3 million US dollars (Rp288 billion) and compensation of 65 million US dollars (Rp1 trillion).

Trump was ordered to pay five million US dollars (Rp78 billion) in May last year in another civil lawsuit, which convicted Trump of sexually abusing Carroll.

The former president faces 91 criminal charges in four separate cases, including those related to the January 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol Building.