Trump Was Convicted Of Sexually Assaulting A Writer

Donald Trump was found responsible by a New York jury on Tuesday for sexually assaulting and defaming a former American magazine columnist, and the ex-president was ordered to pay the woman $5 million in damages.

After less than three hours of deliberation, the nine jurors unanimously upheld E. Jean Carroll’s other claims while rejecting her rape charge in the highly watched civil trial.

Trump was charged for the first time in relation to a litany of allegations of sexual assault that date back decades, and he instantly called the decision a “disgrace.”

Carroll, 79, filed a lawsuit against Trump last year, saying that he sexually assaulted her in the dressing area of the opulent Bergdorf Goodman store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan in 1996.

After she made the allegation public in 2019, the former columnist for Elle magazine asserted that Trump had defamed her by calling her “a complete con job.”

The 76-year-old front-runner for the Republican presidential candidate in the upcoming election termed her case a “hoax” and “a lie.”

By a preponderance of the evidence, the jury found that Carroll had established sexual abuse—basically, sexual contact without consent—and it awarded her $2 million.

The jury of three women and six men also concluded that Carroll should receive about $3 million in damages from Trump for slander.

Carroll exited the Manhattan federal court after the verdict with a smile but avoided speaking to reporters.

Her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, exclaimed, “We’re very happy.”

On his social media site Truth Social, Trump criticized the result.

He wrote in capital letters, “I have no idea who this woman is at all. This decision is a shame and a continuation of history’s most infamous witch hunt.

In a statement, Trump’s campaign for the 2024 election claimed that the case was a “political endeavor” designed to thwart Trump’s ambition to win the presidency again and that he would file an appeal.

Carroll said that the assault had left her feeling “ashamed” and prevented her from having meaningful connections during the two-week civil trial.

She said that she was “frightened” of Trump, which is why it took her more than 20 years to go public.

Two additional women who testified that Trump sexually attacked them in the past were called to the witness stand by her attorneys.

Jessica Leeds, a former businesswoman, claimed Donald Trump molested her on a business class flight in the United States in the 1970s.

According to journalist Natasha Stoynoff, Trump kissed her during a 2005 interview at his Mar-a-Lago home without her permission.

Prior to the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House, about a dozen women alleged that he had engaged in sexual misconduct.

He has refuted each and every accusation, and none of them has ever led to legal action. Carroll’s lawsuit cannot lead to a criminal investigation.

– Porn star case – Neither Trump nor his defense team called any witnesses throughout the trial.

The jurors watched a video of a sworn deposition he provided in October. Trump referred to Carroll in it as “a liar” and a “really sick person.”

Carroll allegedly concocted the allegation, according to his attorneys, “for money, for political reasons, and for status.”

She filed her claim in accordance with a New York statute that offered accused sexual assault victims a one-year window to file lawsuits against their alleged abusers decades after the alleged assaults may have taken place.

In contrast to criminal trials, where prosecutors must prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, civil processes have a lower burden of proof.

The case was one of several legal issues that threatened to make Trump’s campaign to win the presidency more difficult, despite the fact that most of the Republican candidate’s followers had so far remained committed to him.

Just before the 2016 election, Trump allegedly paid a porn star hush money to hide an affair, and he entered a not guilty plea to the charges last month.

Trump is also being investigated for his attempts to reverse his loss in the state of Georgia in the 2020 election, his alleged handling of confidential information taken from the White House, and his participation in the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol by his followers.