The jury found that Donald Trump sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll, but insufficient evidence prevented a finding of rape.
Six men and three women on the panel came to the conclusion that Trump harmed and slandered advice columnist Carroll in 1996 when he labeled her a liar in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan. They demanded that the ex-president pay damages amounting to $5 million.
After discussing the issue for barely three hours, they came to a conclusion.
As the judge announced the verdict in the battery case, Carroll lowered her head respectfully. She bowed once again and nodded in agreement as the slander case’s verdict was read. She then got to her feet and shook hands with Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina.
Trump tweeted in all capital letters on his social media app Truth Social, “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. It’s a shame they made this decision; it’s just like the greatest witch hunt ever all over again. ‘VERY UNFAIR TRIAL!’ he cried out in a follow-up note.
Carroll was beaming as he walked off the floor. Not speaking to the press, but audible to the crowd: “We’re very happy.”
After the verdict was handed down, her attorney Roberta Kaplan released a statement calling it “a victory not only for E. Jean Caroll, but for democracy itself and for all survivors everywhere.”
There have been other allegations of sexual misbehavior or attack against Trump, but this is the first case to go to trial. This is just another cloud over Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
With the help of the Adult Survivors Act, Carroll, now 79 years old, filed a battery suit. A new legislation in New York extends the statute of limitations for victims of sexual assault to two years from the date of the alleged incident.
After Trump, now 76, dubbed her a liar while in office, she filed a libel suit against him.
The prosecution instructed the jury that sexual abuse occurred if someone touched Carroll in a sexual manner without her consent.
Any physical contact with a person’s sexual or private areas with the intent to fulfill sexual desire on either party was defined as sexual contact.
The jury awarded $2 million in compensatory damages for the battery allegation and another $20,000 in punitive penalties. The court awarded her $1.7 million to repair her public persona and $1 million in damages for the libel.
Punitive damages of $280,000 were awarded to the plaintiff for the defamation.
The jury deliberated for two weeks, hearing testimony from several witnesses (including three victims and two of Carroll’s acquaintances) but none from Trump himself.
Trump denied all allegations made about an alleged encounter at New York’s Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s.
There was an issue with a social media post Trump made on Tuesday, right before the judgment, in which he said he had no way to “defend himself.” Trump was permitted to show up, but his attorneys failed to meet the judge-imposed deadline of Sunday at 5 p.m. to submit an application.
According to a post Trump made on Truth Social, he is “waiting for a jury decision on a false accusation where I am not allowed to speak or defend myself, even though I am a current political candidate and am ahead of everyone else in both parties.”
Regardless of the outcome, he vowed to “appeal the unconstitutional silencing of me as a candidate.”
Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, said in court that it was “troubling” because Trump claimed Carroll wasn’t permitted to present in court even though he was. She requested that Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not her relative, inform the jury that Trump had the opportunity to be in court but chose not to.
After saying, “We have to deal with what we have to deal with,” Judge Kaplan seemed unwilling to go further.
Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, argued to the judge that the tweet had no relevant information for the jury.
Roberta Kaplan, a prominent attorney and a co-creator of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, represented Carroll in court. To aid victims of workplace harassment, this fund was established in the wake of the MeToo movement.
She was exiting Bergdorf Goodman, she informed the judges, when she spotted Trump enter the store. He allegedly remarked to her, “Hey, you write that advice column.” “Hey, you’re that real estate guy,” she said in return.
Carroll’s “Ask E. Jean” column in Elle magazine and “Ask E. Jean” cable TV show made her a media celebrity at the time.
After some “playful banter,” Trump invited her to accompany him to the lingerie section on the sixth floor so that he could get a present for a woman.
In the end, Carroll called it a “fun New York story.” The tale got even better when Trump suggested she put in a see-through outfit. She encouraged him to give it a try and carried on a conversation while they went into a separate room.
However, Carroll told the jurors that the atmosphere abruptly turned “dark.”
Carroll said Trump “shut the door and pushed me against the wall.” Her testimony to the court went as follows: “I pushed him away, and he pushed me against the wall and hit my head.”
As an example, “He put his shoulder on me and held me against the wall.”