The jury in the civil suit writer E. Jean Carroll filed against former President Donald Trump has found him liable of sexual assault.
Carroll claimed that Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s. Last year, she sued him for battery over the alleged assault and defamation for calling her allegations “a complete con job” and “a Hoax and a lie” in a post on Truth Social.
Trump remained defiant, though absent from court, throughout the trial.
On Tuesday, the jury ruled in Carroll’s favor regarding sexual assault—though not rape—and defamation. It awarded her $5 million in damages.
The verdict was unanimous.
After reading the verdict, the judge told the jurors that they have the right to identify themselves and talk about the case publicly, but urged them against it. Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime reports that the judge ordered them not to identify other jurors.
Trump’s many critics celebrated the verdict. “It’s about time!!” wrote one.
Trump himself continued denying the charge even after the jury rendered its decision.
In a post on Truth Social, he claimed to have “NO IDEA” who Carroll is and repeated his oft-used line that the trial was “A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME.”
