Trump Can’t Help Himself: Talks Trash About E. Jean Carroll Again

Hit em again, Hit em again – Harder, HARDER! (common h.s. football cheer)

Will there be a THIRD lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll? Many predicted Trump simply wouldn’t be able to control himself and that it was only a matter of time before he’d shoot off his fat mouth and find himself again being sued by E. Jean Carroll. Well, at a rally in Georgia yesterday he might well have crossed the line again. Whether Carroll will greenlight her excellent (WAY better than Trump’s) lawyers to sue him again remains to be seen. It could make for an interesting week. “Lawsuit watch.”  In the spirit of the the cheer at the beginning, let’s all do a modified version: “Sue him again, Sue him again! – Harder, HARDER!”

Of all places it was an article by Forbes where I learned Trump did what so many of us assumed he’d wind up doing. Oh sure, for a while he sort of paid attention to some of his lawyers and if not entirely avoiding the subject of E. Jean Carroll and that second judgement he was, especially by his standards careful about staying on the right side of the line. But really, this is Donald Trump we’re talking about and as he got away with saying stuff BUT not being too overt he’d keep testing the limits. And, more importantly would blow right through them.  According to Forbes he’s opened up the possibility of stepping back into the ring with Carroll for Round 3:

I’ll bet Carroll and her lead lawyer Roberta Kaplan are having some serious discussions today. And that come tomorrow Carroll will be at the latter’s law offices to sit down with others and see if it’s time to put the band back together again. If they do, and do so quickly it could have far-reaching implications.  Because Trump is incapable of admitting he’s lost. Been beaten. And accepting it and moving on.

I’m sure Trump was livid over losing last June and having to cough up five million. He’ll lose his appeal, maybe before the primaries are over. Being branded a rapist bugged him, but being Trump not so much as the money. But she shot off his mouth about it and Carroll sued him again, and WON again.  THIS time the jury hit him for $83.3 million.  You’d think that would shut him the hell up on the whole thing. It would anyone else on the planet, but not Donald Trump! He got tuned up for eighty-million plus because he wouldn’t shut up and lied, defamed Carroll after losing last June. Now that he’s doing it again, what kind of award do you think Carroll could get now?  I’m guessing $250-$300 million if not more! A jury could reasonably wonder how much it would take to get him to stop and I think the amount I’ve suggested might be only a starting point, although in the end anything more would likely be reduced by the court to what I’ve suggested.

What matters is that a third lawsuit and speculation about a THIRD award, this time in multiple hundreds of millions can truly cripple Trump.  Especially if a lawsuit gets filed quickly.  Given what we heard from Carroll and her lawyers in interviews after the second verdict they won’t just consider a third lawsuit but are anticipating it. Carroll made it pretty clear if Trump won’t STFU she’s willing to take him to court again. Kaplan seemed up for it too and if they. I’m hoping they’ve anticipated Trump would give them an opening and much of the prep work has already been done. That a third lawsuit is sitting there in draft form and just needs details and a little polishing into final form. If so, then filing it as early as the end of this week could be huge.

Here’s why. Trump managed to find someone to put up the bond for the $83.3M verdict to Carroll. It’s a curious story.  The CEO of Chubb Insurance which has put up the bond served in the Trump administration on an economic policy board. If that smells a little fish there’s more. It’s an international group headquartered in Switzerland that just so happens to have a subsidiary that underwrites business for Russian interests. (that fishy smell is growing stronger!) Details are still emerging, and some facts may never be known but according to Raw Story Trump might not be “covered” to the degree everyone is assuming:

“One of the things I noticed when I was going through the bond today is that it actually only covers the appeal to the Second Circuit,” said Rubin, speaking to MSNBC’s Katy Tur. “It doesn’t cover any appeal that he would take from the Second Circuit if it affirms the jury’s verdict of $83.3 million. If he appeals further to the Supreme Court, he’s going to need somebody else to come in and provide that security if he takes that appeal further. Otherwise, he will owe her that money within a certain number of days.”

The “Rubin” quoted above is MSNBC analyst Lisa Rubin who explains in the article why we may never know who actually puts up the money to help Trump. If you read the linked article it notes that even Putin or the Saudi PIF could back Trump by a behind the scenes fronting the money and we might never know about it. As another analyst put it:

Former prosecutor Joyce Vance, who now teaches at University of Alabama School of law, posted on social media, “This is an important point. Trump is beholden to someone and we don’t know who. Reporters should ask him to explain all of the details. GOP leaders should, but probably won’t be, especially concerned.”

That’s damned sobering, and should invite not only a lot of concern but speculation in the media. They should shine the spotlight and keep it on. But there’s a detail in that quote from Rubin that’s intriguing. The bond ONLY covers things during the initial appeal. If Trump loses then he has to come up with another bond to continue without facing immediate enforcement of the judgement. Put more plainly even with his buddy at Chubb convincing the board to go along the insurer hedged its bet!

That leads me to the main point which is that Trump still has to come up with another $454 million to cover the New York State judgement. He had all kinds of trouble coming up with less than a hundred million to cover the one for Carroll. Whether Putin or the Saudis that’s a fair amount of money but they’ve got it to spare. Neither would like coughing up over a half-billion to cover Trump but they might do so IF they saw a return on investment. But now there are two NEW things tossed into the equation.

First, they were as shocked as the media (and much of the country) with President Biden’s SOTU address. Joe “brought the heat” so to speak and the “he’s too old, too frail physically, not sharp mentally anymore” is GONE. In a single evening of speech and “OMFG did you see THAT? Biden was on fire!” coverage the Presidential race has been redefined. Worse for Trump is that in a couple of weeks he’s going to be sitting in court for a month while Biden’s out there continuing to shape the race. Trump’s chances of winning in November are going to go down, and likely way down.

Second, IF Carroll files another lawsuit before Trump can get a bond for the New York State verdict there will be all that speculation about how many hundreds of millions Trump will be on the hook for when he loses. Again!  I think they might decide “Screw it/him – he’s just not worth it. Not anymore.”  Think about that. At this point, years out of office and having probably given them as much intel that might still be useful for them that he can what use is he these days?  If he can’t prevent a vote to start funding Ukraine again (and he might not be able to stop it anymore) he’s of no use to them.

From where I sit if they were sure about Trump he’d have been able to obtain the bond for the Carroll verdict long before he did. There ARE ways for Pootie and the Saudis (sounds like a bad rock band’s name) to hide covering Trump financially via a company like Chubb. I think even if he was well along in a deal for the far larger bond for the state of New York judgement after the SOTU it’s on hold. And now Trump, because he is who he is has complicated thing further.

Suppose with all that airtime to fill news outlets amplify what’s in the Forbes article I referenced tomorrow and afterwards? That the will she or won’t she sue Trump again and how much will it cost him to lose a THIRD time reaches fever pitch.  That means financially propping Trump up goes from a half-billion to at least three quarters of a billion and I believe those who might have the ability to cover Trump’s butt might decide to walk away. Pootie has other problems at the moment. The Saudis are trying to whitewash their image, having thrown billions into “sportswashing” and won’t take kindly to questions about whether they’re secretly trying to bail out Trump. Especially with noises being made about investigations of Jared and the 2 billion given him by the Saudi PIF. Remember, the PIF initially said no but MBS overruled them and said give Jared the money.

That friends is the “Bigly” impact Carroll can have if she files a third lawsuit and does so quickly. With the five million cash in escrow from the first trial, and now the bond for her second win against Trump on file she’s going to get her money. She might walk away with nothing for whipping his azz a third time in court, but she can bring the whole Trump empire and Trump himself down by simply filing that third lawsuit!

Here’s hoping she does just that. And soon. VERY soon.