Trump Media Stock Slips Premarket After Appeals Court Upholds $83M Verdict in E. Jean Carroll Defamation Case

President Donald Trump-owned Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (DJT) slipped in early premarket trading on Tuesday, following gains in the previous session, after a federal appeals court upheld the $83.3 million awarded against him in the defamation case brought by author Jean E. Carroll in 2019.

Trump Media stock, often seen as a barometer of the president’s political and business moves, closed Monday up 2.2% at $17.05, with trading volume roughly in line with its three-month average. The stock slipped in overnight trading. On Stocktwits, sentiment improved slightly to ‘neutral’ (45/100) early Tuesday from ‘bearish’ the day before, even as message volume eased back to ‘normal’ levels.

The ruling, which was yet to be signed by a three-panel judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan, was made unanimously, the New York Times reported.

Reacting to the ruling, Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, posted a link to a CNBC article on the same and captioned it as “Winners keep winning, @ejeancarroll and, well, Donald, losers just keep on losing--because they're losers.”

The defamation case stemmed from Trump's accusation that Carroll’s claims of him assaulting her in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s were “totally false.” He had contended that it was done with the motive of selling her book. 

The plaintiff sued Trump for defamation in November 2019. She followed up with a second case in November 2022, renewing her claim of defamation to keep the case alive. 

In Monday’s ruling, the appeals court said evidence supported findings by trial judge Lewis Kaplan that “the degree of reprehensibility of Mr. Trump’s conduct was remarkably high, perhaps unprecedented.”

The appeals court also rejected Trump’s argument last year that the Supreme Court’s decision in 2024 that gave presidential immunity for official acts barred a finding of liability in Ms. Carroll’s lawsuit.

A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team reportedly said in a statement on Monday that the American people stood with Mr. Trump and demanded “an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system.”

DJT stock has shed about half of its value this year.

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