Donald Trump Found Liable In Sexual Assault & Defamation Trial; Ex-POTUS Ordered To Pay $5M In Damages To E. Jean Carroll

(Updated with more details) A federal jury in Manhattan just found Donald Turmp liable today in the civil battery and defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll. The writer claimed that that the one-time real estate mogul raped her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

While not finding Trump guilty of rape, the jury of six men and three women in the civil case did find him liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The jury awarded $2 million to Carroll for battery, and $3 million for defamation.

The past and present candidate for the White House had repeatedly mocked, attacked and dismissed Carroll’s claims. Trump, who denied the allegations and of even knowing Carroll all that well, referred to the decades old matter  as “a complete con job.” In typical Trump fashion, the defendant claimed that former Elle magazine columnist Carroll simply made up the attack in a  Bergdorf’s dressing room and went public in 2017 at to pump up sales of her 2019 memoir. 

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Delivering unanimous verdicts, the jurors deliberated for just over 2½ hours. That’s just over an hour longer than instructions the jury received from U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan earlier this week.

Trump’s legal team offered up zero defense, leaning into the unsuccessful hope that the jurors would be unconvinced by Carroll’s case. Unlike a criminal case where plaintiffs have to present “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” a civil case is required to meet the standard of “clear and convincing evidence.”

The two-week trial saw Carroll and two other women take the stand, claiming that they were assaulted by Trump. The former president did not appear in person, but via a meandering and confusing October 2022 video deposition, where at one point he confused a picture of Carroll as that of his second wife Marla Maples.

Amidst the barrage of lawsuits, indictments and investigations the former one-term president faces, today’s verdict also comes just one day before Trump is set to appear on CNN in a town hall setting. The case is just chapter in a wave of litigation involving Trump. He faces criminal charges brought by the Manhattan District Attorney over payments made in 2016 to porn star Stormy Daniels. A Justice Department special counsel is investigating Trump’s role in the handling of classified material after he left the White House, as well as his role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump also has brought litigation against media outlets and others. Last week, a judge tossed out his lawsuit against The New York Times and three journalists who published a 2018 piece on his tax schemes.

While nothing official has been said from Trump’s camp yet today, it is almost certain they will mount an appeal relatively quickly. A smiling Carroll left the Manhattan courtroom with her attorneys without speaking to the press.

As for Trump, the MAGA candidate swiftly went on his social media platform to typically sling mud at Carroll and the judicial process. He, or someone close to Trump, wrote, in all caps: “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 jury’s swift verdict and $5 million judgment once again puts Trump in unprecedented territory for a presidential candidate. In March, when District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed his charges, Trump became the first former president to be criminally indicted. At least in the short term, the latter did not seem to hurt his standing among Republican primary voters, as he has gained ground in polls over current and potential rivals for the GOP nomination.

Broadcast networks broke into regular programming to cover the verdict, while CNN, staked out at the Manhattan courthouse, advertised their town hall in a graphic in the lower right screen. While there will be plenty of scrutiny over how Trump responds to the verdict, but an extra challenge for CNN’s moderator, Kaitlan Collins. She faces considerable pressure to not let the former president stonewall or filibuster through the one-hour event.

— Ted Johnson contributed to this report.

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