Jury Finds Trump Liable for Sexual Abuse and Defamation of Writer E. Jean Carroll

E. Jean Carroll awarded $5 million in civil case against Trump. More than a dozen women have accused President Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual conduct, including numerous allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Now, for the first time, a jury has found Trump guilty of one of these claims. On Tuesday, a Manhattan jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.

Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Trump called the allegation “a complete con job” and “a lie.”

The jury did not find Trump guilty of rape, but did find him guilty of sexual abuse and defamation. Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages in the civil court case.

“It was not clear why jurors chose the lesser offense of abuse over rape,” notes The New York Times. “Sexual abuse is defined in New York as subjecting a person to sexual contact without consent. Rape is defined under state law as sexual intercourse without consent that involves any penetration of the penis in the vaginal opening.”

Nonetheless, Carroll seems satisfied with the verdict. “I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear my name and to get my life back,” she said in a statement. “Today, the world finally knows the truth. This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed.”

In a Truth Social post, Trump responded “I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. This verdict is a disgrace—a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time!”

Opinions are mixed on whether the jury’s finding will hurt Trump politically.

“In a better world it would matter, but in the debased and polarized American politics of 2023, it may not,” writes the Wall Street Journal editorial board, expressing some skepticism that this case was brought for the right reasons:

Yet if most Republicans dismiss the verdict as one more political assault, Mr. Trump’s opponents and the press have themselves to blame. … This lawsuit, like the two impeachments and the recent Alvin Bragg indictment that stretches the law, seems less an attempt to get at the truth than to find some way, any way, to disqualify him from ever becoming President again. Voters don’t like being told that a man they elected should be disqualified by members of the opposite party or the press.

Meanwhile, at The New York Times, David French dismisses the idea that the case was simply a matter of “he said, she said”:

Carroll provided her own testimony, of course. But she also presented evidence that she had told others about the assault at the time, as well as evidence from other women that Trump had assaulted them and touched them without their consent.

Trump declined to testify at the trial, but the jury did see his videotaped deposition, during which he denied Carroll’s claims but also doubled down on his assertions in the infamous “Access Hollywood” video. “I just start kissing them,” he said on the tape, “It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” He added: “Grab ’em by the [genitals]. You can do anything.”

In the deposition, Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, asked Trump specifically about that quote. “Well, historically, that’s true with stars,” he responded. When she pressed him, he doubled down: “Well, that’s what—if you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true,” Mr. Trump said. “Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately.”

I spent decades litigating cases, including a number of sexual harassment cases, and as I watched the evidence accumulate, I reached a tipping point—I would have been surprised by any verdict other than the one we received Tuesday.

But French is still skeptical that the result will make a difference to Republican voters.

The BBC talked to nine Republican female voters and found “his strongest supporters echoed Mr Trump’s claim that he is the victim of a witch hunt,” while “others said the verdict was further evidence that the party needs to find an alternative in 2024.”

“Republicans challenging former President Donald Trump for the 2024 nomination were divided Tuesday after the 76-year-old was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation,” notes the New York Post.

A number of Senate Republicans expressed concern that the verdict would affect Trump’s electability. “You never liked to hear that a former president has been found—in a civil court—guilty of those types of actions,” said South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds.

Republican strategist Rick Tyler suggested the verdict would matter little to strong Trump supporters but could be bad news for Trump when it comes to swing voters, “making him unelectable in the general.”

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FOLLOW-UP

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