Jury Finds Trump Sexually Abused Woman Decades Ago, Awards Her $5 Million

A federal jury in New York on Tuesday awarded a onetime magazine advice columnist $5 million after concluding Donald Trump was liable for sexually abusing her 20 years before he became a U.S. president and then defamed her by dismissing the encounter as a “hoax.”

The nine-member jury — six men and three women — reached its decision after three hours of deliberation, the first time Trump has faced a trial to hold him accountable for widespread allegations over many years from women accusing him of unwanted sexual advances.

The jury rejected the claim by E. Jean Carroll, now 79, that Trump raped her in the dressing room of an upscale department store in New York sometime in 1996. But it concluded that he sexually abused her, awarding her $2 million on that allegation.

It awarded Carroll another $3 million for Trump’s repeated claims publicly and on his social media accounts that her allegations were “a scam” and “a complete con job.”

Carroll emerged from the courthouse smiling but did not stop to talk to a gaggle of news reporters.

A woman yelled to her, “You’re so brave and beautiful,” to which Carroll said, “Thank you, thank you so much.”

Later, she said in a statement, “I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear 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.”

‘Bogus case’

Trump slammed the decision, insisting he is the subject of a witch hunt.

“This verdict is a disgrace — a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time,” the former president posted, using all capital letters, on his Truth Social media platform.

“I have absolutely no idea who this woman is,” he said of Carroll.

The Trump campaign promoting his 2024 run for the Republican presidential nomination said, “Make no mistake, this entire bogus case is a political endeavor targeting President Trump because he is now an overwhelming front-runner to be once again elected president of the United States.”

Trump defense lawyer Joseph Tacopina said the former president would appeal the outcome, with the lawyer adding that he believes there are “plenty of issues” on which to try to overturn the verdict.

Tacopina said he does not believe Trump can get a fair trial in New York, which, even though Trump grew up and lived in the city for decades, voted overwhelmingly against him in his two previous campaigns for the White House.

Trump lost his 2020 reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden and now is facing several criminal investigations stemming from his efforts to overturn that election outcome and his retention of classified documents from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

But the allegations made by Carroll were adjudicated in a civil, not criminal case, and as a result carried no threat of a conviction or imprisonment for the 76-year-old Trump.

Trump did not appear in the courtroom to hear Carroll’s account nor was he required to. Two other women testified on her behalf that Trump assaulted them decades ago in similar fashion: A onetime stock broker said he groped her in the first-class cabin of a New York-bound flight, and a journalist alleged that he suddenly started kissing her at Mar-a-Lago while she was there to report a story for People magazine on the first anniversary of his marriage to his third wife, former first lady Melania Trump.

Tacopina called no defense witnesses in the case and instead tried to chip away at Carroll’s account of the incident, noting that she could not remember the exact date the attack occurred, never reported it to police at the time nor went to a hospital for treatment, and only first made her allegation public in a 2019 memoir.

“It’s the most ridiculous, disgusting story. It’s just made up,” Tacopina told the jurors in his closing argument on Monday. Earlier, as the case opened two weeks ago, Tacopina said, “There are no witnesses to call to prove a negative” and that jurors would have to “believe the unbelievable” to rule in favor of Carroll, who sought a retraction of Trump’s denial of the incident and unspecified monetary damages.

生词记录

jury 陪审团，裁判团，评判委员会

columnist 专栏作家

liable 承担责任的，负有法律责任的

defame 诽谤，诋毁

dismiss 对···不予理会，摒弃，去除；解雇，开除，免职

hoax 骗局

deliberation 讨论，商议，细想，考虑

trial 审判，审讯；试验，试用

allegation 指控，指责

upscale 高档的，高级的

con 骗局，圈套，花招

gaggle 一群喧闹的人，一帮蠢人

bogus 假冒的，伪造的

slam 严厉抨击

witch hunt 政治迫害

disgrace 耻辱，丢脸，不光彩的行为

continuation 持续，继续，延续

capital letter 大写字母

make no mistake 完全可以肯定，没有半点怀疑

endeavor 努力，奋力

front-runner 领跑者

appeal 上诉，申诉，异议；对···有感染力，引起兴趣

retention 保留，保持，维持

classified 机密的，保密的

adjudicate 裁决，裁定，判决

conviction 定罪，判罪；坚定的看法，坚定的信仰

imprisonment 囚禁，服刑，刑期

account 报道，报告，记述，描述

testify 证明，作证，证实

assault 袭击，攻击

stockbroker 股票经纪人

grope 猥亵

chip away at sth 逐渐削弱或减少，一点点地除掉

memoir 回忆录，自传

juror 陪审员

retraction 撤销，收回