New Delhi: In a big blow to former US president Donald Trump, a United States Jury on Tuesday found that he sexually abused magazine writer E Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defamed her by branding her a liar. The jury awarded her $5 million for battery and defamation, reported news agency Reuters.
"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."
Trump, who is campaigning to retake the White House in 2024, will appeal, his lawyer Joseph Tacopina told reporters outside the Manhattan federal courthouse.
According to Reuters, Carroll testified during the civil trial that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in either 1995 or 1996, and 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, who was absent throughout the trial which began on April 25, called the verdict a "disgrace" and said, "I have absolutely no idea who this woman is," in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“What E Jean Carroll has done here is an affront to justice. She has abused this system by bringing a false claim for — amongst other things — money, status, political reasons,” Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said during closing arguments this week, reported Al Jazeera.
Reuters reported that since 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.