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NEW YORK – A federal jury on Tuesday found that Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll, a writer who accused the former president of attacking her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.
The verdict marks the first time that Trump, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women, has been held legally responsible for sexual assault. And it adds fresh tarnish to the former president’s reputation as he seeks to regain the White House amid a tide of legal troubles.
The nine-person jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million. The jury deliberated for three hours before returning the verdict.
Carroll testified that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room after a chance encounter one evening in the spring of 1996. The jury found Trump not liable for rape, but found him liable for sexual abuse and for defamation. The defamation count arose from a statement Trump made last year in which he called Carroll’s allegation a “hoax.”
Trump did not testify in court and did not even attend the civil trial in federal court in Manhattan, and his legal team did not call any witnesses. The case hinged on the testimony of Carroll, who told the jury over the course of three days on the witness stand how her encounter with Trump at the luxury department store turned into a brutal attack in a dressing room in the store’s lingerie department.
