A New York jury has found Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and later defaming writer E. Jean Carroll more than two decades ago, but not, as Ms. Carroll has long held, for rape. The presidential hopeful must pay $5 million in damages—$2 million for sexual abuse, defined in New York as sexual contact with another person without their consent, and $3 million for defamation.
Given that it was a civil case and not criminal, Mr. Trump has not been convicted of any crime. As such, he faces no prison time. The standard of proof in a civil trial is also lower than that required in a criminal trial; the nine jurors needed only to be convinced that it was more likely than not Mr. Trump abused Ms. Carroll. The BBC reports that “ultimately it came down to who they believed more.” Ms. Carroll’s attorneys, it added, were more “convincing,” while Mr. Trump failed even to turn up for the trial.
The New York Times adds that “it was not clear why jurors chose the lesser offence of abuse over rape.” Mr. Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina described this as “perplexing.” This, he said, has always been a “rape claim” (even after the proceedings had come to an end and the rape claims had been dropped, media outlets both in the U.S. and elsewhere continued to refer to this, incorrectly, as a “civil rape case”), yet the jury “made other findings” even after rejecting suggestions of rape.
Mr. Trump himself, highlighting that the case will go to appeal, wrote on his Truth Social media platform that “I HAVE NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN, WHO MADE A FALSE AND TOTALLY FABRICATED ACCUSATION, IS. HOPEFULLY JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED.” He has also suggested it was unfair for the case to be held in “anti-Trump” New York, and be presided over by a Clinton-appointed judge.
Ms. Carroll was visibly pleased with the jury’s verdict, “her nod growing more pronounced as the clerk said Mr. Trump was liable for defamation,” according to the Times, before she left the courthouse with a grin on her face, while locals told her “you are so brave and beautiful, we have so much respect for you.”
In a statement released later, Ms. Carroll, who wrote in a 2019 book excerpt in New York Magazine that Mr. Trump raped her in a New York department store dressing room in the 1990s, said:
I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear my name and to get my life back. 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.
Although the main thrust of the case was rejected by the jury, The New Yorker described Ms. Carroll as having been “vindicated,” while CNN argued that “Trump’s liability for sexual abuse should disqualify him as a candidate” for president. On the other side of the pond, The Daily Telegraph of London described parts of Mr. Trump’s deposition as “toe-curling” (particularly when he “appeared unable to distinguish Ms. Caroll from one of his ex-wives”) and Rome’s la Repubblica suggested the case could put the presidential hopeful’s White House bid at “risk,” especially with regards to support from women voters. Le Figaro of France, however, highlighted that “so far, the former president does not seem to have suffered from these disputes with justice, the Republicans having rather considered that these cases were politically motivated.”
The civil case itself was only able to be brought because of the enactment late last year of New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which enables accusers to file a civil lawsuit outside the statutes of limitations.
