A New York City jury has ordered Donald Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages to journalist E. Jean Carroll for defamation. Trump had spent years maligning Carroll in public forums and on social media, sometimes dozens of times in a single day. Carroll celebrated the settlement saying, “This is a great victory for every woman who stands up when she’s been knocked down and a huge defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down.”
Trump responded on Truth Social by claiming that “our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon” and that “they have taken away all First Amendment Rights.” Such views were echoed in coverage of the settlement by right-wing media personalities, according to watchdog group Media Matters for America. Courtney Hagle, the group’s research director, spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about what it will take to break through distorted right-wing media coverage of Trump’s legal scandals.