Jury: ‘Ex-President Trump Sexually Abused Columnist’; Trump Denies Charges
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
NEW YORK (Worthy News) – A Manhattan jury comprised of six men and three women concluded Tuesday that former U.S. President Donald J. Trump “sexually abused” a columnist and also held him financially liable for “defaming” her.
The jury awarded $5 million to Trump accuser E Jean Carroll in damages for battery and defamation, the first time a US president has been found liable for sexual assault.
The federal jury reached the verdict in the civil rape trial brought by Carroll, 79, who claimed Trump raped her in New York in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s.
However, after deliberating fewer than three hours, jurors opted not to find Trump liable for rape but rather for “sexual abuse,” a lesser charge.
Trump, 76, was also held liable for defaming her after posting a statement on his Truth Social website in October, calling her case “a complete con job” and “a Hoax and a lie.”
Trump, a 2024 presidential candidate, has consistently denied Carroll’s claims. He blasted the verdict on his social media website.
“I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE — A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!” he wrote on Truth Social.
NEW LAW
The claim was brought to trial after New York passed a law that allowed survivors to sue years after their alleged sexual assault.
Carroll was also encouraged to step forward by the #MeToo social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture that it says prevails in society.
She was known for her “Ask E. Jean” column, which appeared in Elle magazine from 1993 through 2019, one of the longest-running advice columns in U.S. publishing history.
The trial came when Trump was campaigning to return to the White House in 2024.
Trump claimed the case was an attempt to derail his re-election bid but said that in polls, he remained ahead of Joe Biden and Ron DeSantis, a possible challenger for the Republican nomination.
“This is a political attack. This is the only way they think they can win the election because they’re losing,” he told reporters while playing golf at a resort he owns in Doonbeg, County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland.
Back in the United States, in closing arguments, Carroll’s attorneys had stressed what they referred to as Trump’s questionable behavior toward women in general.
DENYING CLAIMS
In the recorded deposition, Trump repeatedly denied Carroll’s claims as he attacked her appearance and claimed the case was a hoax.
Carroll’s lawyers played for Trump the infamous “Access Hollywood” TV program tape that surfaced ahead of the 2016 presidential election. In it, Trump is heard saying lewd comments about grabbing women to television host Billy Bush.
Trump defended his comments in the deposition as “locker room talk.”
During Trump’s deposition, Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, showed the former president a years-old photo of him and Carroll in a receiving line. Upon seeing the image, Trump mistook Carroll for his ex-wife, Marla Maples.
“That’s Marla, yeah. That’s my wife,” Trump said. “Which woman are you pointing to?” Kaplan responded.
Trump attorney Alina Habba then interjected, “No, that’s Carroll.”
Trump comments on lawyer’s appearance
CAMPAIGN RALLY
Near the end of his testimony, Kaplan also played Trump a video of him at a campaign rally denying the claims of another woman, Jessica Leeds.
She accused Trump of groping her during a flight in 1979 and testified at the trial on Carroll’s behalf. Trump, during the rally, said she would not be his “first choice.”
After the video was played, Trump, in his deposition, again denied Leeds’s claims before turning his focus to Kaplan.
“You wouldn’t be a choice of mine, either, to be honest with you,” Trump said. “I hope you’re not insulted. I wouldn’t under any circumstances have any interest in you.”
“I’m honest when I say it,” he added.
Trump did not testify in person during the trial, a fact frequently noted by Carroll’s lawyers in their arguments to jurors. Instead, Trump’s attorneys cross-examined Carroll and her allies at length.
They also argued to jurors that Carroll produced no proof of her rape claims and stressed the number of years that Carroll waited before going public.
The Trump lawyers suggested that Carroll made her allegations because Trump had been elected president, and she wanted to embarrass him.
In the end, the jury came to a different conclusion.
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