Jury Finds Trump Guilty For Sexual Abuse, Awards Accuser $5M

NEW YORK – A jury held Donald Trump accountable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in a judgment that could follow the former president as he campaigns for re-election.

The jury returned a split verdict, rejecting Carroll’s claim that she was raped and holding Trump accountable for a lower degree of sexual abuse. The ruling adds to Trump’s legal difficulties while also vindicating Carroll, whose charges Trump had insulted and rejected for years.

She nodded when the decision was read aloud in a federal courtroom in New York City only three hours after deliberations began, then hugged supporters and smiled through tears. Carroll could be heard laughing and crying as the courtroom cleared.

Jurors also judged Trump guilty of defaming Carroll because of her allegations. Jury Trump did not appear at the civil trial and was not there when the judgment was read aloud.

Trump instantly took to Twitter, saying he did not know Carroll and calling the verdict “a disgrace” and “a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time.” He promised to file an appeal.

After the judgment was read, Trump’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, shook hands with Carroll and hugged her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan. He told reporters outside the courthouse that the jury’s rejection of the rape claim while finding Trump guilty of sexual abuse was “perplexing” and “strange.”

“Obviously, part of me was very happy that Donald Trump was not labelled a rapist,” he stated.

He justified Trump’s absence by referring to the trial’s “circus atmosphere.” He claimed that having Trump there would create “more of a circus.”

“What else can you say other than ‘I didn’t do it,'” Tacopina replied.

Kaplan said in a written statement that the verdict demonstrated that no one is above the law, “not even the president of the United States.”

Carroll sued Trump to “clear my name and reclaim my life.” Today, Jury the entire globe is aware of this reality. This triumph is for all women who have suffered because they were not believed.”

It was unclear what impact the verdict would have on Trump’s third presidential candidature, if any. He holds a commanding advantage among Republican candidates and has incurred little political consequences in the aftermath of past controversies ranging from the filthy Jury “Access Hollywood” tape to his criminal prosecution in New York.

The jury returned a split verdict.

His Republican opponents remained mute after the verdict, indicating their concern about alienating Trump followers,Jury  vital to obtaining the presidential nomination. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, one of the few loud Trump detractors in the race, called the conviction “another Jury example of Donald Trump’s indefensible behaviour.”

Carroll was one of several women who accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment. Jury  In a 2019 memoir, she claimed that the Republican raped her in the changing room of a posh Manhattan department shop.

Trump, 76, rejected it, saying he had never met Carroll and had no idea who she was. He has referred to her as a “nut job” who concocted “a fraudulent and false story” to sell a memoir.

Carroll, 79, requested unspecified monetary damages and a retraction of Trump’s allegedly defamatory denials of her claims.

The trial brought up the contentious issue of Trump’s behavior towards women.

Carroll testified for several days, open and at times emotional, and was supported by two friends who claimed that she reported the alleged incident to them shortly afterward.

Jurors also heard from Jessica Leeds, a former stockbroker who said Trump touched her against her will on an airline flight in the 1970s, and Natasha Stoynoff,Jury  a journalist who claimed Trump forcibly kissed her when she was interviewing him for a 2005 story.

The jury of six men and three women was also shown a 2005 “Access Hollywood” hot-mic recording of Trump bragging about kissing and grabbing women without their permission.

The Associated Press does not usually name persons who claim to have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll, Leeds, and Stoynoff have.

The ruling comes as Trump confronts an increasing barrage of legal challenges.

He is battling a criminal prosecution in New York involving hush money payments to a porn star. The state attorney general has filed a lawsuit against him, his family, and his company for alleged financial misconduct.

The jury returned a split verdict.

Trump is also dealing with probes into his suspected mismanagement of confidential papers, his behavior during the 2020 election, and his involvement during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurgency at the United States Capitol. Trump denies any wrongdoing in any of these cases.

Carroll, who wrote an advice column for Elle magazine for 27 years, has also written for magazines and “Saturday Night Live.” She and Trump were in overlapping social circles at a 1987 party, where a photo of them and their then-spouses chatting was taken. Trump has stated that he has no recollection of it.

Carroll claims she ended up in a dressing room with Trump after they met at Bergdorf Goodman on an undetermined Thursday evening in the spring of 1996.

Carroll said that they went on an unscheduled trip to the lingerie aisle so he could look for a women’s gift and soon were taunting one other about going on a tiny bodysuit. It appeared to her to be a comedy sketch, similar to her 1986 “Saturday Night Live” sketch in which a man admires himself in a mirror.

However, she claimed that Trump slammed the door, trapped her against a wall, pressed his mouth on hers, ripped her tights down, and raped her as she tried to flee. Carroll claimed she eventually shoved him off with her knee and exited the business.

“I always think back to why I walked in there to get myself into that situation,” she said, her voice shaking, “but I’m proud to say I did get out.”

She never phoned the cops or noted it in her diary. Carroll claimed she remained silent, fearing Trump’s retaliation, embarrassment, and concern that people would hold her responsible for the incident.

The jury gave Carroll $2 million for Trump’s sexual abuse and $20,000 in punitive damages. Jurors awarded $1 million in defamation damages for Trump’s October statement, $1.7 million in reputational damages, and $280,000 in punitive damages.

Tacopina told jurors Carroll made up her charges after seeing a 2012 “Law and Order” episode in which a woman is raped in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store’s lingerie section.

Carroll “cannot produce any objective evidence to back up her claim because it didn’t happen,” he told the jury. He accused her of “advancing a false rape claim for money, political reasons, and status.”

In questioning Carroll, he sought to doubt her account of fending off the significantly heavier Trump without dropping her bags or ripping her tights and without anyone in the lingerie department hearing or seeing them.

The lawyer pressured her on not yelling, looking for help when fleeing the store, or seeking medical attention, security video, or police, according to her own story.

Carroll chastised him.

“I’m telling you he raped me, whether I screamed or not,” she added.

Since the legal time limit has long passed, Trump cannot be charged with assaulting Carroll.

She filed her legal action as a defamation complaint for similar grounds, claiming that Trump’s insulting denials had subjected her to hostility, damaged her reputation, and harmed her career.

Then, beginning last autumn, New York State allowed victims to sue for sexual assault charges that would otherwise be too late. Carroll was among the first to file a claim.

SOURCE – (AP)