A Manhattan jury has found former President Donald Trump was not liable for rape but was liable for sexual abuse and defamation in a suit brought by E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room in 1996..The jury awarded Carroll $5 million. .The trial was a civil action, not criminal, so Trump has not been convicted of any crime and doesn’t face any prison time..“The jurors found in favour of Carroll on her claim that the ex-president defamed her in a lengthy Oct. 12, 2022, Truth Social post claiming her accusations were a “hoax,” reports the New York Post..Trump reacted on Truth Social to the verdict, writing in capital letters, “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!”.The trial took eight days spread over three weeks, with the jury hearing from 11 witnesses including Carroll, two other Trump accusers and two friends of Carroll who she told about the alleged attack..Trump provided the trial with a video deposition rather than attend the trial. His lawyer did not call any witnesses nor present any evidence..Carroll testified for three days in total, telling the court she happened to meet Trump at Bergdorf Goodman, the Fifth Avenue department store that was across from Trump Tower, most likely, she said, in the spring of 1996, where she agreed to help him find a gift for a woman and the pair walked through the store flirting and exchanging banter, she said..She told the trial Trump led her to a desolate sixth-floor lingerie department where he tossed a see-through negligee at her, asking her to try it on. She said she jokingly threw the lingerie back at Trump telling him to try it on..Then Trump led her into an open fitting room where he pinned her against the wall and bumped her head twice, during what she called, a fight, Carroll testified..She said Trump then penetrated her with his fingers and later with his penis, saying she could “still feel the pain, "of his fingers inside her.'.“Friend Lisa Birnbach told jurors that a 'hyperventilating' Carroll called her just minutes after the alleged attack,” reports the New York Post, adding “Birbach said she advised Carroll to go to the police, even offering to accompany her. But Carroll was insistent that she didn’t want to report the incident and swore Birnbach to secrecy.”.Also testifying at the trial were two other accusers, Natasha Stoynoff and Jessica Leeds, who alleged Trump sexually assaulted them..“Leeds, 81, claimed that Trump groped and tried to kiss her on a plane in the late 1970s and then when she saw him years later he said, ‘You’re that c---- woman from the airplane,’” says the Post..Stoynoff told jurors Trump came onto her in 2005 at Mar-a-Lago while she was working on a magazine article for Trump and Melania Trump’s one year anniversary..When Melania left the room to change her clothes, Stoynoff said Trump forcibly kissed her, but stopped when a butler interrupted him..Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, told jurors during closing arguments Monday that Leeds and Stoynoff’s claims showed that what happened to Carroll wasn’t a one-off incident, says the Post..Kaplan called Trump a habitual liar and blasted him because he “didn’t even bother” to show up at trial..Also brought up in the trial was the infamous 2005 Access Hollywood tape where Trump was unwittingly recorded saying that he grabbed women “by the p—y” and that they let him because he’s a star..In his video disposition, Trump said about the tape, which came to light during his run for the presidency in 2016, was “locker room talk.”.Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told the jury during his closing that Carroll’s claims were a “work of fiction” based on the facts she never went to the police and that she couldn’t recall the exact date of the alleged assault..Trump claimed that Carroll’s allegations were all politically motivated to hurt his presidency and to promote sales of a book she had written..In June, 2019, New York Magazine published an excerpt of her book and she went public, filing first a lawsuit against Trump for defamation in November 2019 and later for the rape claim in November 2022..In public statements, Trump denied the allegations, saying she wasn’t his “type.” .In terms of Trump’s claim he doesn’t know her, at trial, jurors saw a photo of Carroll, Trump and their then-respective spouses taken years prior to the rape. .Trump said on Truth Social earlier Tuesday, he would appeal the verdicts, “no matter what the outcome!”
