A federal jury in New York determined that former president Donald Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the 90s and defamed her by calling her story, which she told in a 2019 memoir, a “con job.”
Carroll said Trump assaulted her in Bergdorf Goodman in 1996 and then defamed her when he said her claims were false. She said that the verdict was a win, not only for her, but for other abuse victims.
“I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear my name and to get my life back,” Carroll said in a written statement, “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,” Carroll added.
While the jury found that Trump sexually abused Carroll, they did not find that she proved he raped her. He does not face any jail time because this is a civil case.
The nine-member jury awarded the former Elle magazine contributor $5 million in punitive and compensatory damages. Trump opted not to attend the New York trial but says he plans to appeal the verdict.
“We’ll be appealing this decision. It’s a disgrace,” he said in one of the videos on his social media platform Truth Social. Trump maintained his claim that he does not know who Carroll is and called the trial “very unfair.”
The former president is also dealing with a number of other legal issues, such as criminal charges in New York stemming from a 2016 hush-money payment to a porn star and a Justice Department inquiry into his alleged handling of classified documents.