Good morning. It's Monday, and we'll look at the $83.3 million verdict in the defamation case against Donald Trump. We'll also get details on the fallout from a traffic stop in Harlem involving a member of the City Council.
If $83.3 million came your way, how would you spend it? You could:
E. Jean Carroll, who was awarded $83.3 million in damages in her defamation case against Donald Trump, has already thought about the question of what to do with that amount of money. She told our colleague Benjamin Weiser that she wanted to do "something good with it." That might rule out the apartments or the yacht or the lot in the Hamptons. But she said she could now afford one extravagance: premium dog food. She has a Great Pyrenees and a pit bull. The $83.3 million award would buy 767,034 cans of Ziwi Peak Venison Recipe, at $10.86 for each 13.75-ounce can. Carroll called the outcome of her case a victory for women. Trump, who assailed the verdict as "absolutely ridiculous," may have to hand over the $83.3 million eventually, but not until all his appeals are exhausted. That process could take months, maybe longer. Well before then, Trump will probably have to pay something. He could send the $83.3 million to the court, which would hold the money in escrow until the appeals are decided. He took that approach last year when a jury ordered him to pay Carroll $5 million in a related case. The verdict's penalty is more than he can draw from his political action committee, which he has tapped to cover his legal fees and other expenses. But he has enough cash in various accounts, a person close to him said. Trump pocketed $375 million by selling his hotel in Washington in 2022, and several other deals have slimmed down his holdings. As our colleagues Ben Protess and Maggie Haberman have noted, Trump is reluctant to part with large amounts of cash at once. So another strategy would be to secure a bond, which would spare him from shelling out the full $83.3 million in a single payment. He would have to find a financial institution that would put up an eight-figure sum for someone with legal problems like his. He would also probably be asked to put up a deposit and collateral, and he could expect to be charged interest and fees. Carroll filed a defamation suit against Trump after he called her a liar in June 2019, when she first publicly accused him, in a magazine article, of sexually assaulting her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Trump continued his attacks on his Truth Social website and at news conferences even during the trial. Carroll testified that his rants had left her open to hostility on social media and had "shattered" her reputation. She had been an advice columnist for Elle magazine since 1993, but in February 2020, she tweeted: "Because Trump ridiculed my reputation, laughed at my looks, & dragged me through the mud, after 26 years, ELLE fired me. I don't blame Elle. It was the great honor of my life writing 'Ask E. Jean.' I blame @realdonaldtrump." There could be more financial uncertainty ahead for the former president. As the trial for Trump's civil fraud case was wrapping up on Jan. 5, the judge said that he would try to render a decision by the end of the month.
In that case, New York's attorney general, Letitia James, asked Justice Arthur Engoron to give Trump a penalty of roughly $370 million for what she called his unlawful conduct. The sum is far more than the $250 million she estimated when she filed the lawsuit in 2022. WEATHER Expect a chance of rain and snow, with temperatures in the low 40s. At night it's mostly cloudy, with temperatures dropping to the 30s. ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING In effect until Feb. 9 (Lunar New Year's Eve). The latest Metro news
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We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. A councilman's traffic stop
Yusef Salaam, the newly elected New York City councilman who was wrongfully convicted in 1990 as a member of the Central Park Five, was driving through Harlem on the way to dinner Friday night when a police car pulled him over. An officer walked toward Salaam's blue sedan, asking him to roll down the tinted windows. When the officer reached the driver's side, Salaam identified himself as a councilman. The officer asked Salaam if he was working. Salaam said that he was and asked why he had been stopped. The officer did not answer that question. "Take care, sir," he told Salaam. The stop immediately prompted outrage. Salaam, who represents Harlem and was recently named chair of the Council's public safety committee, and his allies said that the incident demonstrated the need for transparency whenever the police stop people. Salaam said on Sunday that the officer should have given a reason for the stop.
Other elected officials said that it was an example of using an official position to avoid a ticket. The police released footage from the officer's body-worn camera, along with a statement saying that the officer had pulled over Salaam because the dark tint on the windows was "beyond legal limits" under state law. The statement also noted that the car had a Georgia license plate. Mayor Eric Adams defended the stop as "a picture-perfect example" of a professional and courteous police response. METROPOLITAN DIARY Bowling shirt
Dear Diary: I was in graduate school in Manhattan with a student job as a costume shop manager in the basement of a building on Washington Square. The same security guard was at the front desk every day, and sometimes we made small talk. I eventually explained that I worked in the costume shop, and he told me about how he lived alone, had a long bus ride each morning and liked to go bowling with his team on Tuesdays. One day, he came down to the shop in his bowling shirt with a decorative patch in his hand. He asked rather shyly if I could help him. He usually ironed the patches on, but they would always come off when the glue got too old. I told him I would be happy to help. I sewed the new patch on, tacked the others down neatly and brought the shirt back to him at the end of the day. He thanked me effusively, and I said it had been no trouble. I came into work a few weeks later on a raw cold day when the wind was whipping chilly rain down the streets. As usual, I said hello to my security guard friend. A couple of hours later, he came down to my basement workshop with a cup of chili and a container of rice. They were both piping hot. "You looked so cold this morning," he said. "And it's one of my favorite lunches. I go to the Chinese restaurant next door special for the rice." I left after that semester and never learned his name. But now it's one of my favorite lunches, too. — Claire Dawson Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here. Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here. Melissa Guerrero and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
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N.Y. Today: E. Jean Carroll’s $83 million award
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