هیئت منصفه فدرال به رئیس جمهور سابق دستور می دهد تا 5 میلیون دلار به ستون نویس پرونده مدنی بپردازد
Trump Liable For Sex Abuse, Defamation
Federal jury orders the former president to pay $5 million to columnist in civil case
BY JAMES FANELLI AND CORINNE RAMEY
A federal jury found Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll and ordered him to pay $5 million in damages, after a civil trial in which the advice columnist alleged the former president raped her in a Manhattan department store nearly 30 years ago. The jury, following a twoweek civil trial, didn’t find that Mr. Trump committed rape but found it more likely than not that he sexually abused Ms. Carroll in a dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman, sometime around 1996. Jurors also found that Mr. Trump defamed Ms. Carroll in comments he made denying her allegations, which she first made publicly in 2019. Ms. Carroll, 79 years old who said she was inspired to come forward by the #MeToo movement, clasped her lawyers’ hands as the verdict was announced. “This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed,” she said in a statement. Joe Tacopina, the lead lawyer for Mr. Trump, shook hands with her after the judge dismissed the jury, which consisted of six men and three women. Ms. Carroll smiled as she left the courthouse and was escorted quickly into an SUV. In a social-media post, Mr. Trump, 76, called the verdict a disgrace. “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS,” he said. Mr. Tacopina said he would appeal. The verdict, delivered Tuesday after three hours of deliberations, is a rebuke to Mr. Trump as he seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination while being dogged by legal troubles. He is facing New York criminal charges connected to his payment of hush money to a porn star before the 2016 election, as well as other criminal investigations, related to the pressuring of Georgia officials after the 2020 election, his actions on the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and his handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence. He is facing civil-fraud allegations from the New York attorney general and another civil lawsuit from Ms. Carroll, who was a longtime Elle magazine columnist and at one time a writer for “Saturday Night Live.” Mr. Trump has denied wrongdoing in all of these matters. He chose not to testify in the Carroll trial—or attend any of the proceedings in person— but in a videotaped deposition under oath he accused Ms. Carroll of making up her allegations for publicity and political reasons, calling it “the most ridiculous, disgusting story.” His lawyers argued Ms. Carroll’s allegations contained inconsistencies, and that she had not behaved like a rape victim at the time of the alleged incident or in the years since. Ms. Carroll’s allegations first became public in a 2019 New York magazine article that was an excerpt of a book she published the same year, “What Do We Need Men For?” The writer, who continues to self-publish a column on Substack, testified over three days, telling jurors that she and Mr. Trump, then a prominent New York City figure and real-estate mogul, struck up a rapport after bumping into one another at Bergdorf Goodman around 1996. The playful banter continued in the lingerie section, she said, but ended once the two entered a dressing room for what she thought was so Mr. Trump could try on a seethrough bodysuit as a gag. “He immediately shut the door and shoved me up against the wall and shoved me so hard my head banged,” she recalled. Ms. Carroll testified in graphic detail about the alleged rape. The attack lasted a few minutes before she broke free from him, but “it left me unable to ever have a romantic life again,” she said. Ms. Carroll sparred with Mr. Tacopina on the witness stand as he tried to raise doubts about her account, asking her why she didn’t scream or go to the police. “Women like me were taught and trained to keep our chins up and to not complain,” she said. Mr. Tacopina called Ms. Carroll’s account inconceivable, saying it shared striking similarities to a 2012 “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” episode in which a character describes a rape fantasy in the lingerie section of Bergdorf Goodman. Ms. Carroll testified she was aware of the episode but never saw it. Mr. Trump’s lawyer noted Ms. Carroll had joked on Facebook about having sex with Mr. Trump for money and said she was a fan of “The Apprentice,” the reality television show in which Mr. Trump served as the host. “It was a very good television show,” she told jurors. To find Mr. Trump liable for sexual abuse, the jury was required to find by a preponderance of the evidence that he engaged in sexual contact with Ms. Carroll by force. For a rape finding, the jury would have needed to conclude that Mr. Trump physically forced sexual intercourse with her. Ms. Carroll’s defamation claim stemmed from an October 2022 social-media post in which Mr. Trump called her account a “Hoax and a lie.” He wrote, “E. Jean Carroll is not telling the truth, is a woman who I had nothing to do with, didn’t know, and would have no interest in knowing her if I ever had the chance.” While jurors were deciding only on Ms. Carroll’s allegations, the trial became a broader examination of Mr. Trump’s treatment of women, resurfacing derogatory comments he made in the past. Two women testified at the trial in support of Ms. Carroll, saying they were sexually assaulted by him in a similar manner years ago. Mr. Trump has denied their allegations. Jurors saw a video that became public in 2016 in which Mr. Trump told an “Access Hollywood” host how women let stars “grab them by the pussy.” “That’s what you said, correct?” Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Ms. Carroll, asked Mr. Trump during the deposition. “Well, historically, that’s true with stars,” he said, later adding he considered himself one. Jurors were dismissed after a court clerk read the verdict. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the trial, told them they were allowed to discuss the case but warned them about going public for safety reasons. “My advice to you is not to identify yourselves—not now, not for a long time,” he said, ordering them not to identify other members of the jury. Ms. Carroll’s 2022 complaint was one of the most prominent lawsuits filed under a New York law called the Adult Survivors Act, which opened a yearlong window in which people who say they were sexually assaulted as adults could file lawsuits, no matter when the alleged incidents occurred. Two of Ms. Carroll’s friends testified at trial that she told them each separately about what happened soon after the alleged attack. Ms. Carroll said she chose to remain silent for decades but came forward after the New York Times ran a series of stories of women accusing former movie-studio head Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct. He was later convicted of sex crimes. Ms. Carroll said she decided to sue Mr. Trump in part because he repeatedly called her a liar in public and on social media, making her a target of vitriol from some of his supporters. “He lied and shattered my reputation, and I am here to try to get my life back,” she said. —Alex Leary contributed to this article.
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