E. Jean Carroll, the former advice columnist who sued former President Donald Trump for defamation and battery, said she would be interested in helping President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.
Carroll and her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, appeared on “CBS Mornings” Monday to discuss the $83.3 million in damages awarded to her by a nine-person jury in her defamation suit.
“Right now, the polls suggest it’s a coin flip, it’s very close,” co-host Tony Dokoupil said. “Have you heard from Joe Biden’s campaign arm about potentially campaigning against former President Donald Trump?”
She had not, but when Dokoupil asked if she’d like to hear from them, she replied, “I’ll do anything I can.”
You can watch the entire interview below, but the portion quoted above starts around the six-minute mark.
Former Pres. Donald Trump must pay @ejeancarroll $83.3 million in damages for defamatory statements he made denying he sexually assaulted her, a jury ruled. Trump says he plans to appeal the verdict.
Carroll and her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, tell CBS Mornings about the trial. pic.twitter.com/6GCECQayvs
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) January 29, 2024
Others users on X, where “CBS Mornings” posted video of the interview, responded with various levels of support for Carroll or Trump — a very unscientific survey appeared to show more support for Trump on the platform — along with a response from Biden accuser Tara Reade.
Reade posted what appeared to be screen shots of a previous conversation between herself and Carroll in which Carroll expressed support for Reade in her claims against the president.
Are the legal cases against Trump politically motivated?
“Remember me @ejeancarroll?” Reade asked in her post. “I was bullied and harassed and chased to another country by Biden’s machine. All because I was to testify before Congress against him. I now have political asylum in Russia.
“He raped me,” Reade wrote of Biden. “When I was his staffer at work in 1993 and there has never been an investigation. You are singing his praises on national TV?”
In one of the screen shots Reade posted, Carroll called Reade’s detractors “trolls.”
“I have just read some of your trolls,” Carroll wrote. “They are without brains, without class, without morals — and they DON’T know what they are talking about.” [emphasis original]
In another, Carroll wrote, “Some day you and I must have tea together!”
Remember me @ejeancarroll ?
I was bullied and harassed and chased to another country by Biden’s machine . All because I was to testify before Congress against him. I now have political asylum in Russia. He raped me. When I was his staffer at work in 1993 and there has never been… pic.twitter.com/VuEyrg1N5u— Tara Reade 🐎 (@ReadeAlexandra) January 29, 2024
The RealClearPolitics average of national polling does, indeed, show a close race, with Trump ahead of Biden 47.3-to-43. However, most of those polls are of registered, not likely, voters, and therefore of questionable value. In fact, this far out from the election, no polling data means very much, as much can change between now and Nov. 5.
Whether Carroll’s jumping onto Team Biden would make any actual change in the polling numbers between now and then is anyone’s guess, of course — but one thing is certain. If Carroll starts campaigning for Biden, the Trump campaign will have another argument to make about the legal cases against him being political witch hunts.
