Trump ordered to pay $83.3M by New York jury |
A New York jury dealt former President Trump a blow Friday, ordering him to pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for damation after she accused him of rape. Trump, who abruptly walked out of the courtroom earlier Friday amid closing arguments, has lashed out at the proceedings and claimed he doesn't know Carroll. A jury last year found Trump liable of sexually abusing her after she accused him of raping her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s. He has denied any wrongdoing since Carroll went public with the allegation in 2019. The nine-member jury, made up of seven men and two women, on Friday ordered Trump to pay the advice columnist "$11 million for a reputational repair program, $7.3 million in other compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages," The Hill's Zach Schonfeld reported in New York. It's the second time Carroll has won damages from Trump at trial, after winning a $5 million verdict last year when a jury found he defamed her over a separate comment. And it's the first verdict in one of several trials Trump will face this year as he seeks a rematch with President Biden in November.
Trump plans to appeal the verdict, calling it "absolutely ridiculous." Read more here. |
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Welcome to Evening Report! I'm Amee LaTour, catching you up from the afternoon and what's coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here. |
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National Rifle Association (NRA) head Wayne LaPierre, who's resigning at the end of the month, confirmed in court Friday that he used company funds for personal trips and gifts. The NRA and company leaders are being sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).
- Katie Tobin, the senior director for transborder issues at the National Security Council, is leaving the White House next week after three years in the role.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Friday the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson and Merck agreed to testify at a Senate hearing on Feb. 8 and that a scheduled committee vote to subpoena the executives won't be taking place.
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Week closes with no border deal, talk of Plan B |
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday said House Republicans "have to choose whether they want to .. actually solve a problem like the Senate is trying to do in a bipartisan way" on border policy, or "get in the way and score political points." Her comments come after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote in a letter to colleagues that a reported Senate draft proposal on border security and Ukraine aid would be "dead on arrival" in the House. It's not a surprise, as Johnson has said that any deal must contain the GOP's priorities from H.R. 2, the border bill that passed the House last year thanks to the slim GOP majority. ( More on H.R. 2's provisions here.) Aid for Ukraine, which is not widely popular in the GOP, was coupled with border talks as a way of securing its passage. But the pairing, due to the faltering border talks, is proving to be much more difficult than anticipated.
Senate Republicans are also under the microscope of former President Trump. A GOP lawmaker speaking under anonymity noted that Trump has "a lot of influence on the House and particularly on Johnson."
Jean-Pierre expressed optimism in the Senate's bipartisan approach. Senators, meanwhile, are searching for a Plan B, The Hill's Alexander Bolton reported, including the possibility of detaching Ukraine aid from border policy. "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) say they are committed to bringing the package linking money for Ukraine with border security reforms to the Senate floor, but senators say both realize it has little to no prospect of making it to President Biden's desk," Bolton wrote. Related: WSJ editorial board hits Trump over border deal, MAGA 'purge' |
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© AP Photo/John Minchillo, File |
U.S. halts UNRWA funding amid allegations of staff involvement in attack on Israel
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State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the department temporarily paused funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides aid and services to Palestinians, after 12 of the staff members were accused of involvement in Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel. UNRWA is investigating the allegations. - From The Hill's Laura Kelly: " The Biden administration delivered $75 million to UNRWA in October, bypassing a long-held congressional block on the funds over criticisms against the U.N. agency, in part over concerns Hamas members were employed by the organization." (Read more.)
- UNRWA has also "been viewed as a critical agency by humanitarian groups seeking to aid Palestinians caught under fire in Israel's war against Hamas," Kelly noted.
Former President Trump cut funding to the U.N. body in 2018. |
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Percentage of total delegates needed for the GOP nomination that Donald Trump has won so far. |
QUICKLY PULLED... A Republican National Committee draft resolution calling for former President Trump to be declared the presumptive GOP presidential nominee drew swift pushback Thursday, with Trump himself calling for it to be withdrawn. The presumptive nominee title is usually reserved for candidates who have secured the requisite number of GOP delegates for the party nod. While Trump's path to the nomination is the most likely, he is still far from the number, and still has a rival in the race: Nikki Haley. BY THE NUMBERS... Candidates need 1,215 delegates — a majority of the 2,429 total available — to become considered the presumptive nominee. Trump has 32 delegates from Iowa's and New Hampshire's contests. Nikki Haley has 17. - If a candidate won every single delegate available, it'd be possible to secure the nomination by March 12.
- More than 70 percent of all available delegates will be awarded by March 23.
- News outlets have signaled they don't plan to refer to Trump as the presumptive nominee until at least March.
DIGGING IN... Most nominating contests through March 12 use some form of proportional delegate allocation method, meaning Trump and Haley could each win some delegates in those contests. Complicating things, each state has its own allocation rules. Some use a mix of methods, and many proportional allocation states become winner-take-all if a candidate gets a certain percentage of the vote. Just a taste: - South Carolina will award some of its 50 delegates on a winner-take-all basis by the vote in each congressional district and some on a winner-take-all basis by the statewide vote in the Feb. 24 primary.
- California's 169 delegate haul on March 5 (Super Tuesday) is awarded proportionally based on the statewide vote unless a candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, in which case the winner takes all.
OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE... Check out FrontloadingHQ and 270toWin for more details on delegate allocation by state. And bookmark Decision Desk HQ/The Hill's Delegate Tracker! |
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Check out the new 'Year of the Dragon' stamp
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The United States Postal Service is celebrating Lunar New Year with the
"Year of the Dragon" stamp, on sale at post offices around the country and on USPS.com. |
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The Hill's Brett Samuels looks at the state of the veepstakes after just two Republican nominating contests, as front-runner former President Trump's surrogates "with vice presidential aspirations have done little to downplay their interest in the role, while Trump has fed into speculation about his choice of running mate in recent interviews." |
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⏲️ PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY COUNTDOWN |
Upcoming nominating contests: 9 days until South Carolina's Democratic primary 11 days until Nevada's Democratic primary and GOP primary (Trump is running in the caucuses two days later instead; more on that here) 13 days until Nevada's and the Virgin Islands's Republican caucuses 29 days until South Carolina's Republican primary |
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President Biden and Nikki Haley will both be campaigning in South Carolina this weekend. Former President Trump holds a rally in Nevada Saturday. |
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