According to a New York jury, former President Donald Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll, then defamed her, and as a result, must pay her $5 million in damages. However, the jurors tossed out the woman’s claims of rape, so Trump at least has that going for him in this situation.
A report from the Washington Examiner revealed that the jury, made up of nine members, reached a unanimous decision after only three hours of deliberation. Good to know they really gave this whole case a lot of thought. It’s almost as if every single person was already convinced of Trump’s guilt before even hearing the evidence.
Check out more about the case from the WE report:
Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, accused Trump of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York in the mid-1990s. He denied the accusations and called them a “hoax” and Carroll a “liar.”
Jurors determined that while there was not a preponderance of evidence to prove that Trump raped Carroll, there was enough evidence to prove that he sexually abused her and defamed her when she stepped forward with her claims. Trump is now ordered to pay $5 million to Carroll, including $2 million for sexual abuse, $1.7 million for reputation repair damages, and $1 million for malice and injury related to defamation.
The jury was tasked with determining whether Trump was liable for civil battery and defamation, and for the first time in the history of the United States found that a former president liable for sexual abuse, though the jury rejected the more serious rape allegations.
Interestingly, the standard for the jury to make a determination in this case, which is the weight of the evidence, is significantly lower than what would be expected in a criminal court, where the jury needs to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The attorneys representing Carroll presented the jury with several pieces of evidence, which included the former president’s past comments about women, along with other testimony given by women that allege sexual misconduct toward them. I mean, this seems pretty flimsy. Is this yet another case of the legal system being used as a weapon against Trump? It certainly seems like it.
“Defense attorneys for Trump sought to discredit Carroll’s claims and called her story an ‘unbelievable work of fiction’ twisted by people’s feelings of ‘hate’ toward the former president,” the report continued.
Carroll’s legal representative, Roberta Kaplan, stated that she and her client were “very happy,” as they left the courthouse.
Trump wasted no time issuing a response to the decision, jumping on Truth Social where called the verdict a “disgrace.”
“I have absolutely no idea who this woman is,” Trump went on to write. “This verdict is a disgrace — a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time!”
The former president then went on to say that he will be appealing the decision.
“The Democratic Party’s never-ending witch-hunt of President Trump hit a new low today. In jurisdictions wholly controlled by the Democratic Party our nation’s justice system is now compromised by extremist left-wing politics,” the campaign’s statement said. “We have allowed false and totally made-up claims from troubled individuals to interfere with our elections, doing great damage.”
“This case will be appealed, and we will ultimately win,” the statement added.