- Donald Trump on Friday was ordered to pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll in a defamation case.
- "I'm not going to waste a cent of this," Carroll told The New York Times in a Saturday interview.
After a judge on Friday awarded E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in defamation damages against former President Donald Trump, many thoughts went through her mind.
Trump has vowed to appeal the verdict, meaning it could be a while before she actually sees any money. But Carroll on Saturday told The New York Times that she'd be careful with the money once it's in her hands.
"I'm not going to waste a cent of this," she told the newspaper. "We're going to do something good with it."
Carroll told the Times that while she was still determining how she'd spend the money awarded to her by the jury, she would at least treat her two dogs to upmarket food.
"I'm going to be able to buy some premium dog food now," she told the newspaper.
Last May, Trump lost a separate civil trial where a court found the former president liable for the sexual abuse of Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, in the 1990s. In that particular case, Trump was ordered to pay $5 million in damages to Carroll.
After the latest trial, Carroll said women were the true victors of the decision.
"This win, more than any other thing, when we needed it the most — after we lost the rights over our own bodies in many states — we put out our flag in the ground on this one. Women won this one," she told the newspaper. "I think it bodes well for the future."
Throughout the trial, Trump attacked Carroll in a series of Truth Social posts, including some messages that were published while he was sitting in the courtroom.
Trump on Friday lashed out at the verdict, writing on Truth Social: "Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon."
The former president then emphasized that he "fully" disagreed with the verdict, but he did not reference Carroll directly. Carroll told the Times she didn't know if that meant Trump might finally cease his attacks on her.
"I can't possibly guess what Donald Trump will ever do or not do," she told the newspaper. "Can't make a guess."
Carroll revealed to the Times that she was "terrified" headed into the trial, as she'd have to face the individual whom she had accused of assaulting her. But once she was in the courtroom, she said she felt energized.
"When you've actually faced the man, he's just a man with no clothes on," Carroll said. "It's the people around him that are giving him the power."