A jury found Donald Trump liable Tuesday for the sexual abuse of guide writer E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in a ruling that could hound the former president as he campaigned to take back the White House.
The verdict was announced in a federal courtroom in New York City on the first day of the jury’s deliberations. Jurors rejected Carroll’s claims that she had been raped, but found Trump liable for sexually assaulting her.
Hours earlier, US District Judge Louis A. Kaplan read instructions about the law to the nine-person jury before the panel. The discussion began Carroll’s allegations of battery and defamation just before noon.
Trump, who did not attend the trial, has insisted he never sexually assaulted Carroll or even knew her.
Kaplan told jurors that the first question in the sentencing form was whether they believed there was a 50% chance that Trump raped Carroll inside the store’s dressing room. If they answer yes, they will then decide whether compensatory and punitive damages should be awarded.
If they answer no to the rape question, they can then decide whether Trump subjected her to lesser forms of assault that include sexual intercourse without her consent, forcefully touching her to weaken her, or satisfy his sexual desire. If they answer yes to either of these two questions, they will decide whether the damages are appropriate.
Regarding defamation allegations stemming from a statement Trump made on social media last October, Kaplan said jurors need to be guided by a higher legal standard — clear and convincing evidence.
He said they would have to agree that it was “very likely” that Trump’s statement was false and was made maliciously with a deliberate intent to harm, or out of hate or bad faith with reckless disregard for Carroll’s rights.
Meanwhile, Trump posted a new message on social media, complaining that he was now awaiting a jury decision “on a false accusation.” He said he was “not allowed to speak up or defend myself, even when hard-nosed reporters are shouting questions about the case.”
Trump said he would not speak until after the trial, “but he will appeal my unconstitutional silencing… no matter the outcome!”
Trump did not attend the trial, which is in its third week, and declined an invitation to testify, which the judge extended until the end of the week even after Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, said Thursday that his client would not testify.
Tacopina told the jury In closing arguments Monday Carroll’s account is too far-fetched to be believed. He said she boosted sales of the 2019 memoir in which for the first time she publicly revealed her allegations and disparagement of Trump for political reasons.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, cited excerpts from Trump’s testimony in October and his infamous comments on a 2005 Access Hollywood video in which he said celebrities could grab women between their legs without asking.
She urged the jury to believe her client.
“He didn’t even bother to be here in person,” Kaplan said. She said much of what he said in his testimony and in his public statements “actually supports our side of the case.”
“In a very real sense, Donald Trump is a witness against himself,” she said. “He knows what he did. He knows he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll.”
Carroll, 79, testified that she had a chance meeting with Trump at the Bergdorf Goodman store across the street from Trump Tower. It was a funny interaction, she said, as they taunted each other about trying on an item of underwear before Trump got violent inside the dressing room.
Tacopina told jurors there was no reason to call Trump as a witness when Carroll doesn’t even remember meeting Trump.
He told the jury that Carroll made up her allegations after hearing about a 2012 episode of “Law & Order” in which a woman was raped in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman’s lingerie department.
“They crafted their secret scheme into an episode of one of the most popular shows on television,” he said of Carroll.
Two of Carroll’s friends testified that she told them about the encounter with Trump shortly after it happened, many years before the episode “Law & Order” aired.