NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 A jury found Donald Trump liable Tuesday for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in a judgment that could haunt the former president as he campaigns to regain the White House.
The verdict was split: Jurors rejected Carroll鈥檚 claim that she was raped, finding Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse. The judgment adds to Trump's legal woes and offers vindication to Carroll, whose allegations had been mocked and dismissed by Trump for years.
She nodded as the verdict was announced in a New York City federal courtroom only three hours after , then hugged supporters and smiled through tears. As the courtroom cleared, Carroll could be heard laughing and crying.
Jurors also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll over her allegations. Trump did not attend the civil trial and was absent when the verdict was read.
Trump immediately lashed out on his social media site, claiming that he does not know Carroll and referring to the verdict as 鈥渁 disgrace鈥 and 鈥渁 continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time.鈥 He promised to appeal.
Trump鈥檚 lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, shook hands with Carroll and hugged her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, after the verdict was announced. Outside the courthouse, he told reporters the jury's rejection of the rape claim while finding Trump responsible for sexual abuse was 鈥減erplexing鈥 and 鈥渟trange.鈥
鈥淧art of me was obviously very happy that Donald Trump was not branded a rapist," he said.
He defended Trump's absence, citing the trial's 鈥渃ircus atmosphere." He said having Trump there "would be more of a circus.鈥
Tacopina added: 鈥淲hat more can you say other than 鈥業 didn鈥檛 do it'?"
In a written statement, Kaplan said the verdict proved nobody is above the law, 鈥渘ot even the president of the United States.鈥
Carroll, in her own statement, said she sued Trump to 鈥渃lear my name and to get my life back. Today, the world finally knows the truth. This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed.鈥
It was unclear what, if any, implications the verdict would have on Trump鈥檚 third presidential bid. He鈥檚 in a commanding position among GOP contenders and has faced few political consequences in the wake of previous controversies, ranging from the vulgar 鈥淎ccess Hollywood鈥 tape to his New York criminal indictment.
His GOP rivals were mostly silent after the verdict, a sign of their reluctance to cross Trump supporters who are critical to winning the presidential nomination. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, one of the few vocal Trump critics in the race, said the verdict was 鈥渁nother example of the indefensible behavior of Donald Trump.鈥
was one of more than a dozen women who have accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment. She went public in a 2019 memoir with her allegation that the Republican raped her in the dressing room of a posh Manhattan department store.
Trump, 76, , saying he never encountered Carroll at the store and did not know her. He has called her a 鈥渘ut job鈥 who invented 鈥渁 fraudulent and false story鈥 to sell a memoir.
Carroll, 79, sought unspecified damages, plus a retraction of what she said were Trump鈥檚 defamatory denials of her claims.
The trial revisited the lightning-rod topic of Trump鈥檚 conduct toward women.
Carroll gave multiple days of , buttressed by two friends who testified that she reported the alleged attack to them soon afterward.
Jurors also heard from Jessica Leeds, a former stockbroker who testified that Trump abruptly groped her against her will on an airline flight in the 1970s, and from Natasha Stoynoff, a writer who said Trump forcibly kissed her against her will while she was interviewing him for a 2005 article.
The six-man, three-woman jury also saw the well-known 2005 鈥淎ccess Hollywood鈥 hot-mic recording of Trump talking about kissing and grabbing women without asking.
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll, Leeds and Stoynoff have done.
The verdict comes as Trump faces an accelerating swirl of legal risks.
He鈥檚 fighting a New York criminal case related to hush money payments made to a porn actor. The state attorney general has sued him, his family and his business over alleged financial wrongdoing.
Trump is also contending with investigations into his possible mishandling of classified documents, his actions after the 2020 election and his activities during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump denies wrongdoing in all of those matters.
Carroll, who penned an Elle magazine advice column for 27 years, has also written for magazines and 鈥淪aturday Night Live.鈥 She and Trump were in social circles that overlapped at a 1987 party, where a photo documented them and their then-spouses interacting. Trump has said he doesn鈥檛 remember it.
According to Carroll, she ended up in a dressing room with Trump after they ran into each other at Bergdorf Goodman on an unspecified Thursday evening in spring 1996.
They took an impromptu jaunt to the lingerie department so he could search for a women鈥檚 gift and soon were teasing each other about trying on a skimpy bodysuit, Carroll testified. To her, it seemed like comedy, something like her 1986 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥 sketch in which a man admires himself in a mirror.
But then, she said, Trump slammed the door, pinned her against a wall, planted his mouth on hers, yanked her tights down and raped her as she tried to break away. Carroll said she ultimately pushed him off with her knee and immediately left the store.
鈥淚 always think back to why I walked in there to get myself in that situation,鈥 she testified, her voice breaking, 鈥渂ut I鈥檓 proud to say I did get out.鈥
She never called police or noted it in her diary. Carroll said she kept silent for fear Trump would retaliate, out of shame and because she worried that people would see her as somewhat responsible for being attacked.
The jury awarded Carroll $2 million for Trump鈥檚 sexual abuse and $20,000 in punitive damages. For defamation, jurors awarded $1 million for Trump's October statement, another $1.7 million for harm to Carroll's reputation and $280,000 in punitive damages.
Tacopina told jurors Carroll invented her claims after hearing about a 2012 鈥淟aw and Order鈥 episode in which a woman is raped in the dressing room of the lingerie section of a Bergdorf Goodman store.
Carroll 鈥渃annot produce any objective evidence to back up her claim because it didn鈥檛 happen,鈥 he told jurors. He accused her of 鈥渁dvancing a false claim of rape for money, for political reasons and for status.鈥
In questioning Carroll, he sought to cast doubt on her description of fighting off the far heavier Trump without dropping her handbag or ripping her tights, and without anyone around to hear or see them in the lingerie section.
The lawyer pressed her about 鈥 by her own account 鈥 not screaming, looking for help while fleeing the store or seeking out medical attention, security video or police.
Carroll reproached him.
鈥淚鈥檓 telling you he raped me, whether I screamed or not,鈥 she said.
There鈥檚 no possibility of Trump being charged with attacking Carroll, as the legal time limit has long since passed.
For similar reasons, she initially filed her civil case as a defamation lawsuit, saying Trump鈥檚 derogatory denials had subjected her to hatred, shredded her reputation and harmed her career.
Then, starting last fall, New York state gave people a chance to sue over sexual assault allegations that would otherwise be too old. Carroll was one of the first to file.
