In a highly anticipated verdict, a federal jury in New York found that former President Donald Trump committed battery against E. Jean Carroll, a 79-year-old former columnist, and defamed her in connection with her allegations that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.
However, the jurors rejected Carroll’s claims that Trump had raped her.
The jury, which consisted of six men and three women, reached their unanimous verdicts of battery and defamation after little over two and a half hours of deliberations. As part of the verdict, the former president was ordered to pay $2 million in damages for battery and $3 in defamation, bringing the total to $5 million.
Despite the verdict, Trump responded on social media with a strong denial, saying: “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!”
Judge Lewis Kaplan also gave a warning to the jurors, urging them not to reveal their identities to the public, saying that they owed their anonymity to each other, “whatever you decided for yourself.”
