Celebrations were in full swing for E Jean Carroll as MSNBC's Molly Jong-Fast hosted a celebrity party in her honor at the exclusive Flower Shop bar in New York's Lower East Side. After Carroll's monumental $83.3 million defamation victory over former President Donald Trump, she was hailed as an icon by media power brokers in attendance.
Among the guests paying tribute were Jong-Fast's colleague at MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnell, former Saturday Night Live producer Marci Klein, New York Times opinion writer Lydia Polgreen, and Washington Post journalist Sarah Ellison. According to reports, Carroll seemed delighted, vindicated, and in awe of her victory.
One guest reported that Carroll looked like a hero, and it was great to see a woman winning against a powerful figure like Trump. Another guest added that it was heartwarming to see a woman like Carroll getting the justice she deserved. Carroll, 80, said she plans to spend the money on things that Trump hates in retaliation for denying sexually assaulting her in 1996.
In an interview with ABC's Good Morning America, Carroll said she plans to use the money to create a fund for women who have been sexually assaulted by Trump and also promised she would go shopping with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow for new clothes and shoes. O'Donnell even suggested that Trump could be on his way to bankruptcy, with more legal battles looming ahead.
Carroll's appointment as an MSNBC Political Analyst was confirmed by the network just a day after her victory against Trump. Jong-Fast, the daughter of famed feminist author Erica Jong, said the award was gratifying and that Trump should have been kicked back to reality TV rather than winning the White House.
Carroll joked that she would go shopping for a new wardrobe and offer Maddow a penthouse during Tuesday's party. Other notable guests in attendance included Puck columnist Tara Palmeri, Studio 360 podcast host Kurt Andersen, and Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman.
However, the celebrations have sparked a backlash on social media, with several questioning the wisdom of celebrating prematurely. Many believe that Carroll will never see a dime of the $83.3 million and will end up paying the court costs instead once the appeal hits the non-kangaroo courts of New York.
Trump has also dismissed the judgment as 'absolutely ridiculous' and has vowed to appeal the decision. In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, he accused the court of stripping him of his First Amendment rights. He also said he is in the process of interviewing law firms to represent him in the appeal.
Trump suffered a setback when his attorney, Alina Habba, withdrew one of the key grounds for the appeal, citing a conflict of interest between the judge and Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan. Kaplan, who is not related to Alina, strongly denied any mentor-mentee relationship with the judge and threatened legal action for spreading false claims. Habba has now dropped this argument from the appeal, and it seems the issue has been resolved.