Jury finds Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll, awards $5 million

A federal jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and for defaming her when he denied her allegations as a 'hoax' and called her a 'liar.' The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages. While the jury did not find Trump liable for rape under New York's narrow legal definition, the judge later clarified that the jury's finding of 'sexual abuse' was 'substantially the same' as rape in common parlance. Trump responded by calling the verdict a 'disgrace' and a 'continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time.'

"I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS... THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE." — Trump response on Truth Social after verdict, May 9, 2023