A Manhattan jury on Tuesday issued a guilty verdict against Donald Trump, siding with advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in her civil lawsuit against the former President Donald Trump, whom she says raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.
The jury reached its decision Tuesday after less than three hours of deliberation, finding him liable for sexual abuse and declaring he owes $5 million in total damages, CNN reports.
Carroll sued Trump for battery under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, passed last year to allow people who were sexually abused a one-time chance to file civil suits despite any relevant statutes of limitations.
She also accused Trump of defamation, after he repeatedly responded to her claims with an array of personal insults, including calling her claim a “hoax,” which could not be true because Carroll was not his “type.” He also suggested she was too old at the time of the alleged incident to compel his sexual interest, although they would have been nearly the same age.
Jurors awarded Carroll $2 million for the finding of sexual abuse and another $3 million for defamation claim; she had not asked for any precise monetary amount.
