Donald Trump. Photo by Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons.
A federal jury in Manhattan has found former President Donald Trump liable in the sexual abuse and defamation civil trial brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. Carroll alleged that Trump raped her in a department store fitting room in 1996. Trump has been ordered to pay $2 million for Carroll’s civil battery claim in addition to $3 million for her claim of defamation — as the case is civil, he will not face jail time or any other legally imposed penalties.
Beginning on April 25, the trial saw Carroll take the stand over the course of seven days of testimony. Carroll alleged that she encountered Trump at the department store Bergdorf Goodman in 1996 and, at his request, joined him to help purchase a present. During that encounter, Carroll said that Trump pushed her into a dressing room and raped her. (The jury did not find Trump liable for rape.)
Carroll told friends what happened soon afterward, with two of them testifying during the trial, but did not speak publically about her experience until 2019. Not long after she went public, Trump called her a “liar,” leading to a defamation suit filed in November 2019.
Without Trump’s testimony, his attorney Joe Tacopina tried unsuccessfully to paint Carroll as politically motivated in her accusations and relied on outdated perceptions of sexual assault in an attempt to characterize her as dishonest. After Tacopina asked why she didn’t scream during the alleged assault, Carroll responded, “One of the reasons women don’t come forward is because they’re always asked, ‘Why didn’t you scream?’ Some women scream. Some women don’t. It keeps women silent.”
Trump called the verdict “a total disgrace” in a post shared on his social media platform Truth Social soon after its announcement. Carroll declined to comment to CNN as she left the courtroom — her attorney Roberta Kaplan told the outlet: “We’re very happy.”