Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll, must pay her $5 million, jury says

AFP

Donald Trump must pay $5 million in damages for sexually abusing magazine writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defaming her by branding her a liar, a jury decided on Tuesday.

"Today, the world finally knows the truth," Carroll said in a statement. "This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed."

The former US president, campaigning to retake the White House in 2024, will appeal, his lawyer Joseph Tacopina told reporters outside the Manhattan federal courthouse.

Carroll, 79, testified during the civil trial that Trump, 76, raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in either 1995 or 1996, then harmed her reputation by writing in an October 2022 post on his Truth Social platform that her claims were a "complete con job," "a hoax" and "a lie".

Trump was absent throughout the trial which began on April 25. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called the verdict a "disgrace" and said, "I have absolutely no idea who this woman is."

Because it was a civil case, Trump faces no criminal consequences and, as such, there was never a threat of prison.

The jury, required to reach a unanimous verdict, deliberated for just under three hours. Its six men and three women awarded Carroll $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages, but Trump will not have to pay so long as the case is on appeal.

In April, Trump gave election regulators only the rough estimates of his wealth that are required in financial disclosures, listing over a dozen properties as worth "over $50 million" each.