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Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Today’s Paper
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TRUMP-CARROLL CASE

 * Trump Is Found Liable
 * Carroll Threatens to Sue Again
 * Understand the Verdict
 * Read the Verdict Form
 * Who Is E. Jean Carroll?


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Continue reading the main story




JURY FINDS TRUMP LIABLE FOR SEXUAL ABUSE AND DEFAMATION

A jury of six men and three women awarded the writer E. Jean Carroll $5 million
in damages. Donald J. Trump called the verdict a “disgrace.”

May 9, 2023
 * Give this article
 * 
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Image
E. Jean Carroll, center, leaving court in New York on Tuesday
afternoon.Credit...Brittainy Newman for The New York Times
Pinned

Benjamin Weiser, Lola Fadulu and Kate Christobek


DONALD TRUMP SEXUALLY ABUSED AND DEFAMED E. JEAN CARROLL, JURY FINDS

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Jury Finds Trump Liable, Awarding E. Jean Carroll $5 Million

By Reuters and The Associated Press

0:40Jury Finds Trump Liable, Awarding E. Jean Carroll $5 Million

The former writer left the Manhattan courthouse smiling after a jury found that
Donald Trump had sexually abused and defamed her. Mr. Trump’s lawyer said he
intended to appeal.CreditCredit...Brittainy Newman for The New York Times

A Manhattan jury on Tuesday found former President Donald J. Trump liable for
sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million in
damages. More than a dozen women have accused Mr. Trump of sexual misconduct
over the years, but this is the only allegation to be affirmed by a jury.

In the civil case, the federal jury of six men and three women found that Ms.
Carroll, 79, a former magazine writer, had sufficiently proved that Mr. Trump
sexually abused her nearly 30 years ago in a dressing room of the Bergdorf
Goodman department store in Manhattan. The jury did not, however, find he had
raped her, as she had long claimed.

The jury, in returning the verdict shortly before 3 p.m., also found that Mr.
Trump, who is running to regain the presidency, defamed Ms. Carroll in October
when he posted a statement on his Truth Social platform calling her case “a
complete con job” and “a Hoax and a lie.” His lawyer said he intended to appeal.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers called no witnesses, and he never appeared at the trial to
hear Ms. Carroll, who had sued him last year, deliver visceral testimony about
the attack she said had ended her romantic life forever.

Image

Donald Trump, who avoided the trial, continued to say he did not know Ms.
Carroll. Credit...Sophie Park for The New York Times

On Tuesday, Ms. Carroll nodded along as a court clerk read the verdict aloud,
her nod growing more pronounced as the clerk said Mr. Trump was liable for
defamation. She walked out of the courthouse grinning from ear to ear, holding
hands with her lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan. A woman yelled to Ms. Carroll, “You’re
so brave and beautiful.” Ms. Carroll replied, “Thank you, thank you so much.”

In a later statement, she said: “I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to
clear my name and to get my life back. Today, the world finally knows the truth.
This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she
was not believed.”

For decades, Mr. Trump had reveled in projecting the image of a man irresistible
to women, engineering tabloid headlines like “Best Sex I’ve Ever Had,” appearing
in the introduction of a 1999 Playboy magazine centerfold video and bragging in
an exchange caught on video about how, as a celebrity, he could grab women’s
genitals with impunity. Now the jury has labeled him not a Lothario but an
abuser.

Its unanimous verdict came after just under three hours of deliberation. The
findings are civil, not criminal, meaning Mr. Trump has not been convicted of
any crime and faces no prison time.

Image

“Today, the world finally knows the truth,” Ms. Carroll said after court. “This
victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was
not believed.”Credit...Brittainy Newman for The New York Times

In a Truth Social post after the verdict, Mr. Trump continued to insist that he
did not know Ms. Carroll: “I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. This
verdict is a disgrace — a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time!”

His lawyer Joseph Tacopina said outside the courthouse that the case would be
appealed. He also defended Mr. Trump’s absence from the courtroom and his
decision not to testify in his own defense.

“This was a circus atmosphere, and having him be here would be more of a
circus,” Mr. Tacopina said.

He noted that Mr. Trump had denied Ms. Carroll’s allegation in a video
deposition that her lawyers played for the jury. He also said Ms. Carroll’s
lawyers should never have been allowed to play the “Access Hollywood” recording
for the jury, in which Mr. Trump was captured boasting in vulgar terms about
grabbing women by the genitals.

And he complained about the decision by the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, to have an
anonymous jury hear the case, with their names kept even from the lawyers.

“There were things that happened in this case that were beyond the pale,” said
Mr. Tacopina, who also complained about what he said was “bias displayed by the
court.”

Mr. Tacopina clashed with Judge Kaplan at times and even filed a motion seeking
a mistrial based on “pervasive, unfair and prejudicial rulings” based in part on
what he described as the judge’s improperly sustaining objections by Ms.
Carroll’s lawyers, who argued that his questions were argumentative.

At one point, Judge Kaplan quoted the definition of “an argumentative question”
from Black’s Law Dictionary, reading it aloud to Mr. Tacopina.

Image

Joseph Tacopina, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, clashed frequently with the judge, and said
the proceedings were biased against his client. Credit...Brittainy Newman for
The New York Times

During his instructions to the jury on Tuesday, the judge explained their three
options for finding Mr. Trump liable for battery, meaning an assault on Ms.
Carroll: that he had raped her, sexually abused her or forcibly touched her. A
unanimous vote would affirm that Ms. Carroll had proven that it was more likely
than not to be true that he had committed an offense, the judge explained.

In a criminal case, when jurors are asked to assess guilt, they must meet the
much higher standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.


READ THE COMPLETED JURY VERDICT FORM IN THE TRUMP-CARROLL CASE

A jury, which held former President Donald J. Trump liable on Tuesday for the
sexual abuse and defamation of E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million,
completed a verdict form that spelled out possible findings.

Read Document 3 pages

It was not clear why jurors chose the lesser offense of abuse over rape. Sexual
abuse is defined in New York as subjecting a person to sexual contact without
consent. Rape is defined under state law as sexual intercourse without consent
that involves any penetration of the penis in the vaginal opening.

During the trial, Ms. Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine who
was well known in Manhattan media circles, had testified that the attack
followed a chance encounter one evening at Bergdorf’s, a fashionable department
store on Fifth Avenue. Mr. Trump, she said, asked her to help him buy a present
for a female friend.

They ended up in the lingerie section, where he motioned her over to a dressing
room, shut the door and began assaulting her. He shoved her against the wall
and, using his weight to pin her, he pulled down her tights and forced his
fingers into her vagina and then, she said, his penis.

She pushed back, stamped with her heels and used her knee to push Mr. Trump off
her, and she fled the store. Other than telling two friends, she kept the
encounter a secret for more than 20 years until she disclosed it in a 2019 book
excerpt in New York magazine.

Ms. Carroll and 10 other witnesses called on her behalf testified during the
two-week trial. They included the friends — Lisa Birnbach, a journalist and
author, and Carol Martin, a former TV anchor — in whom she had confided almost
immediately after the attack, telling them what Mr. Trump had done. Two other
women testified that Mr. Trump had sexually assaulted them years ago in ways
that were similar to the way Ms. Carroll described being attacked.

Image

Carol Martin, a friend, said that Ms. Carroll had confided in her soon after the
attack.Credit...Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times

Ms. Carroll was able to bring her lawsuit after New York State last year enacted
a new law granting adult sexual abuse victims a one-year window to sue people
they say abused them, even if the criminal statute of limitations had long
expired.

“For far too long, survivors of sexual assault faced a wall of doubt and
intimidation,” her lawyer, Ms. Kaplan, said after the verdict. “We hope and
believe today’s verdict will be an important step in tearing that wall down.”

While Mr. Trump avoided the trial, he repeatedly attacked Ms. Carroll from
outside the courtroom during the proceeding, initially on Truth Social and last
week in an interview from a golf course in Ireland, where he suggested he would
return to New York to testify in his own defense. In the end, he did not.

In his closing argument, Mr. Tacopina argued that there was no need for Mr.
Trump to appear, because the incident at Bergdorf’s did not happen. He said that
he presented his client’s defense through his cross-examination of Ms. Carroll
and her witnesses.

“If something is completely made up," Mr. Tacopina told the jury, “the only way
to defend yourself against that accusation is by challenging the people who made
it up and the story itself.”

During this cross-examination, one area he focused on was Ms. Carroll’s
testimony that she did not scream during the assault.

“I’m not a screamer,” she responded, adding that she was in too much of a panic.
“I was fighting,” she said. “You can’t beat up on me for not screaming.”

Image

The attack occurred in Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury store on Fifth
Avenue.Credit...Stephanie Keith for The New York Times

Mr. Tacopina replied: “I’m not beating up on you. I’m asking you questions, Ms.
Carroll.”

“No,” Ms. Carroll interjected. She said that one of the reasons women do not
come forward “is because they are always asked why didn’t you scream. Some women
scream. Some women don’t. It keeps women silent.”

Ms. Carroll, her voice rising as she testified, said, “I’m telling you, he raped
me, whether I screamed or not.”

The verdict comes as Mr. Trump confronts a barrage of legal actions. In April,
he pleaded not guilty to New York fraud charges stemming from hush money paid to
a porn star, and he faces a civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney
general.

Mr. Trump is also under investigation in Georgia over attempted interference in
the 2020 election, and a federal special counsel is examining the discovery of
sensitive documents at Mar-a-Lago, as well as his role in the events leading up
to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. Mr. Trump has denied wrongdoing in
all the cases, and argued that the lawsuits and investigations are meant to drag
him down.

Ms. Carroll, during her testimony, was asked by another of her lawyers, Michael
J. Ferrara, whether she was glad she had spoken publicly about what Mr. Trump
did to her or regretted doing so.

“I have regretted this about a hundred times, but in the end — in the end, being
able to get my day in court finally is everything to me,” she said. “I’m glad
that I got to tell my story in court.”

Nate Schweber, Hurubie Meko and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.

Show more
May 9, 2023, 8:21 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 8:21 p.m. ET

Kate Christobek

On Truth Social, Trump continued his attacks, focusing on Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.
He wrote: "What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed
judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as
it could possible be, speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump
area which is probably the worst place in the U.S. for me to get a fair
'trial.'”

May 9, 2023, 7:03 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 7:03 p.m. ET

Nate Schweber


TRUMP’S LAWYER VOWS TO APPEAL THE VERDICT.

Image

Donald J. Trump’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said outside federal court that his
client would appeal.Credit...Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times


Outside of the courthouse in Lower Manhattan, Donald J. Trump’s lawyer, Joseph
Tacopina, said the trial had been unfair in several ways and his client intended
to appeal the verdict.

Mr. Tacopina said Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who oversaw the case in federal court,
had displayed a bias toward Ms. Carroll in several decisions. He called the
court “highly prejudicial.”

For starters, Mr. Tacopina said, the judge allowed E. Jean Carroll’s lawyers to
play for the jury the Access Hollywood tape in which Mr. Trump boasted about how
his status as a celebrity gave him the ability to kiss and grab women’s
genitalia without asking.

“There were things that happened in this case that were beyond the pale,” Mr.
Tacopina said. He added: “In New York you can’t get a fair trial.”

Mr. Tacopina defended Mr. Trump’s decision not to testify.

“This was a circus atmosphere, and having him be here would be more of a
circus,” Mr. Tacopina said. He added that Mr. Trump could do little more than
say, “‘I didn’t do it?’ And he said that under oath here. It’s hard to prove a
negative.”

He said that he thought the anonymous jury was particularly unfair to Mr.
Trump’s side.

“We should have been able to tell something about the background of these
people,” he said. “Unfortunately, having anonymous jurors, even kept from the
lawyers, I don’t think was fair or was right.”

When asked if the verdict would derail Trump’s presidential campaign, Mr.
Tacopina had a one word answer.

“Nope,” he said.

Show more


READ THE COMPLETED JURY VERDICT FORM IN THE TRUMP-CARROLL CASE

A jury, which held former President Donald J. Trump liable on Tuesday for the
sexual abuse and defamation of E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million,
completed a verdict form that spelled out possible findings.


ADVERTISEMENT

Continue reading the main story


May 9, 2023, 6:20 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 6:20 p.m. ET

Jonathan Weisman


MOST OF TRUMP’S RIVALS FOR THE G.O.P. NOMINATION AVOID ATTACKING HIM OVER THE
VERDICT.

Image

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, remained quiet after a jury found
that former President Donald J. Trump was liable for sexual abuse.
Credit...Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times


A Manhattan jury’s decision to hold former President Trump liable for sexual
abuse and defamation came as competitors for the Republican nomination for
president were trying to either win over Mr. Trump’s supporters or break through
as the main voice of the opposition to the former president.

Many of Mr. Trump’s rivals and potential rivals stayed quiet as news of the
verdict spread, including Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Senator Tim Scott of
South Carolina and former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina.

But Asa Hutchinson, a former governor of Arkansas and a longtime critic of Mr.
Trump, was quick to seize the opposition mantle. He said that, as a former
prosecutor, he had seen “firsthand how a cavalier and arrogant contempt for the
rule of law can backfire.”

“The jury verdict should be treated with seriousness and is another example of
the indefensible behavior of Donald Trump,” Mr. Hutchinson said.

One long-shot for the party’s nomination, the entrepreneur and author Vivek
Ramaswamy, showed a reluctance to challenge the former president and his legion
of supporters, who steadfastly believe in Mr. Trump’s innocence.

“I’ll say what everyone else is privately thinking: If the defendant weren’t
named Donald Trump, would there even be a lawsuit?” Mr. Ramaswamy said in a
statement, citing the age of the allegation, which goes back to the 1990s, and
other legal actions pending against the former president.

“Believe me, it would be a lot easier for me if Trump weren’t in this race,”
said Mr. Ramaswamy, who has a law degree from Yale. “But in America we don’t
weaponize the law with decades-old allegations to undercut our political
opponents.”

Show more
May 9, 2023, 5:48 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 5:48 p.m. ET

Lola Fadulu


NEW YORK LAW GAVE JURORS THREE TYPES OF BATTERY TO CONSIDER IN THE TRUMP CASE.

Image

New York law spells out precisely what acts constitute what sort of abuse.
Credit...Brittainy Newman for The New York Times


Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on Monday morning walked jurors through a verdict form,
explaining what battery meant in the context of a civil lawsuit and that there
were gradations of that wrongful act.

He offered three types of battery for which Mr. Trump might be liable under New
York law: rape, sexual abuse and forcible touching.

To find that Mr. Trump raped Ms. Carroll, the jurors needed to believe that it
was more likely than not that Mr. Trump engaged in sexual intercourse by
physical force. The judge explained that “any penetration of the penis into the
vaginal opening” constituted intercourse.

To find that Mr. Trump sexually abused Ms. Carroll, the jurors needed to believe
that Mr. Trump subjected Ms. Carroll to sexual contact by physical force. Sexual
contact is defined as touching the sexual or other intimate parts of another
person, Judge Kaplan said.

Forcible touching, the judge said, “includes squeezing, grabbing, pinching,
rubbing or other bodily contact that involves the application of some level of
pressure to the victim’s sexual or intimate parts.”


READ THE COMPLETED JURY VERDICT FORM IN THE TRUMP-CARROLL CASE

A jury, which held former President Donald J. Trump liable on Tuesday for the
sexual abuse and defamation of E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million,
completed a verdict form that spelled out possible findings.

Read Document 3 pages

The jury ultimately determined that Ms. Carroll had proved that Mr. Trump
sexually abused her and that $2 million would “fairly and adequately compensate
her.”

Jurors found that Mr. Trump should pay Ms. Carroll $20,000 in punitive damages
because his conduct was, as stated in the language of the verdict form,
“willfully or wantonly negligent, reckless, or done with a conscious disregard
of the rights of Ms. Carroll.”

The jury also awarded damages on her allegations of defamation.

Show more


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May 9, 2023, 5:31 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 5:31 p.m. ET

Michael Grynbaum

Mr. Trump is still set to appear live on CNN on Wednesday evening for a town
hall in New Hampshire. The network said it had received no indication of a
change in Mr. Trump’s plans.

May 9, 2023, 5:11 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 5:11 p.m. ET

Ben Weiser

E. Jean Carroll has issued a statement on the verdict: “I filed this lawsuit
against Donald Trump to clear my name and to get my life back. Today, the world
finally knows the truth. This victory is not just for me but for every woman who
has suffered because she was not believed."

May 9, 2023, 4:57 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 4:57 p.m. ET

Nate Schweber

Trump's lawyer Joseph Tacopina said outside the courthouse that his client would
appeal.

“Strange verdict,” he said. “This was a rape claim, this was a rape case all
along and the jury rejected that, made other findings. We’ll obviously be
appealing those other findings.”

Image

Credit...Brittainy Newman for The New York Times
May 9, 2023, 5:04 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 5:04 p.m. ET

Nate Schweber

Tacopina said Trump was vindicated by being found not liable for rape, and added
that it was impossible for Trump to get a fair trial in New York City.

May 9, 2023, 4:08 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 4:08 p.m. ET

Jonah Bromwich

Trump had been thriving politically before the verdict and it is not clear how —
or whether — the jury’s determination will affect his momentum. Criminal
investigations against him have done little to hurt him with his supporters. It
remains to be seen whether the verdict will be a different story.


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May 9, 2023, 4:08 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 4:08 p.m. ET

Lola Fadulu


HERE’S A CLOSER LOOK AT THE $5 MILLION IN DAMAGES THAT THE JURY AWARDED CARROLL.

Image

E. Jean Carroll on Tuesday. She was awarded $5 million in
damages.Credit...Brittainy Newman for The New York Times


The jury determined that E. Jean Carroll, who accused Donald J. Trump of rape
and defamation, should be paid a total of $5 million in damages. Here is a
breakdown:

 * The jury decided that Ms. Carroll proved by a preponderance of the evidence
   that Mr. Trump sexually abused her, and that she was injured by a result of
   his conduct. The jury decided that $2 million would fairly and adequately
   compensate her for her injuries.

 * The jury also decided that Mr. Trump should pay Ms. Carroll $20,000 in
   punitive damages because his conduct was “willfully or wantonly negligent,
   reckless, or done with a conscious disregard of the rights of Ms. Carroll, or
   was so reckless as to amount to such disregard.”

 * The jury also found that Mr. Trump defamed Ms. Carroll and that she was
   injured as a result of his October 2022 Truth Social post about her. They
   decided that she should be paid $1 million for damages unrelated to a
   reputation repair program, and $1.7 million for a reputation repair program
   only.

 * The jury also found that Mr. Trump “acted maliciously, out of hatred, ill
   will, spite, or wanton, reckless, or willful disregard of the rights of
   another” and that Ms. Carroll should be paid $280,000.

May 9, 2023, 4:06 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 4:06 p.m. ET

Daniel Victor

What timing: Trump is scheduled to appear at a forum airing on CNN on Wednesday,
his first appearance on the network since the 2016 presidential campaign. The
network’s morning show co-host Kaitlan Collins is set to moderate, taking
questions from Republicans and independents.

May 9, 2023, 3:58 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:58 p.m. ET

Jonah Bromwich

Carroll brought her lawsuit under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law signed
in 2022 that allowed victims of abuse a one-time opportunity to sue those
responsible, even if the statute of limitations was up. Gov. Kathy Hochul of New
York said on Tuesday after the verdict, “I was proud to sign the Adult Survivors
Act so brave survivors like E. Jean Carroll could have their day in court.”

Image

Credit...Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times


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May 9, 2023, 3:58 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:58 p.m. ET

Lola Fadulu, Kate Christobek and Benjamin Weiser


E. JEAN CARROLL DESCRIBED AN ASSAULT IN MINUTE DETAIL.

Image

E. Jean Carroll said in court that being raped by Donald J. Trump was an event
that carried lifelong consequences.Credit...Jefferson Siegel for The New York
Times


Across three days of vivid and sometimes contentious testimony, E. Jean Carroll
recounted for a jury the day she said Donald J. Trump attacked her, sparring
with a lawyer for the former president as she told her story.

Ms. Carroll, a former magazine columnist, said in a Manhattan federal court that
the encounter with Mr. Trump started with banter after he stopped her at the
58th Street exit of the Bergdorf Goodman department store nearly three decades
ago.

Ms. Carroll said Mr. Trump asked her to help select a gift for a female friend.
“I love to give advice, and here was Donald Trump asking me for advice about
buying a present,” she said.

She described to the jury how they went to the lingerie section and stumbled
upon a gray-blue bodysuit. Mr. Trump directed her to “go put this on,” she said.
She declined and told him to put it on instead — banter that she described as
“jesting and joshing.”

Then, she said, Mr. Trump motioned her inside the dressing room, immediately
shut the door and shoved her against the wall.

Ms. Carroll said Mr. Trump used his weight to pin her and pulled down her
tights. She grew emotional as she spoke. “I was pushing him back,” she said,
adding, “I was almost too frightened to think.”

“His fingers went into my vagina, which was extremely painful,” Ms. Carroll
said. Then, she said, he inserted his penis.

Ms. Carroll said she used her knee to push Mr. Trump away and fled.

The event had lifelong consequences, she said: “It left me unable to ever have a
romantic life again.”

Mr. Trump has denied Ms. Carroll’s allegations. During cross-examination, a
lawyer for the former president questioned Ms. Carroll about her politics, the
decades it took her to come forward and her inability to recall the year that
the alleged attack took place.

Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, insinuated that Ms. Carroll strategically
chose to reveal her story to increase sales of a memoir in which she first
publicly brought her allegation.

Ms. Carroll, however, said that she decided to go public after The New York
Times’s “bombshell” reporting about Harvey Weinstein, which set off the #MeToo
movement. She said that telling her story about Mr. Trump might be “a way to
change the culture of sexual violence.”

The lawyer pressed Ms. Carroll repeatedly about basic facts, probing for
inconsistencies and asking about her inability to remember precisely when in
1995 or 1996 the encounter occurred.

“I wish to heaven we could give you a date,” she replied.

Mr. Tacopina also questioned Ms. Carroll about whether she had screamed for
help.

“I’m not a screamer,” Ms. Carroll responded. “I was fighting,” she said. “You
can’t beat up on me for not screaming.”

Mr. Tacopina said he was not, but Ms. Carroll, her voice rising, said from the
witness stand that women often keep silent about attacks because they fear being
asked what they could have done to stop it.

“They are always asked, ‘Why didn’t you scream?’” Ms. Carroll said.

“He raped me, whether I screamed or not,” she declared.

Show more
May 9, 2023, 3:58 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:58 p.m. ET

Maggie Haberman

More from Trump, this time to Fox News Digital: "We’ll appeal. We got treated
very badly by the Clinton-appointed judge,” Trump said.

He added: “I have no idea who this woman is.”

May 9, 2023, 3:56 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:56 p.m. ET

Lola Fadulu

Before discharging the jury, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan suggested to the jurors that
they “not identify yourselves, not now and not for a long time.” This jury,
composed of six men and three women, has been anonymous throughout the trial,
even to the judge and the lawyers. The judge said during jury selection at the
end of April that the jurors would be picked up in cars from assembly points and
be brought into the courthouse through a garage. He said at the time that it was
“all for your protection.”


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May 9, 2023, 3:55 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:55 p.m. ET

Jonah Bromwich

Trump was first heard discussing assaults on women when the “Access Hollywood”
tape became public during the 2016 campaign. When he won the presidential
election after that, it seemed as though the tape had ultimately had little
impact. But Carroll’s lawyers used the tape to build a damning case against
Trump, one that ultimately proved successful, as jurors appear to have accepted
the connection between his infamous words then — “when you’re a star, they let
you do it” — and his attack on Carroll.

Image

Credit...Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
May 9, 2023, 3:49 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:49 p.m. ET

Maggie Astor

RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual-violence organization, released a
statement after the verdict. “We thank E. Jean Carroll, who will inspire
survivors to come forward to tell their stories and face perpetrators,” said the
group’s president and founder, Scott Berkowitz. “This case demonstrates that all
perpetrators, no matter how powerful, can and will be held accountable.”

May 9, 2023, 3:49 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:49 p.m. ET

Jonathan Weisman

The first response from a rival of Trump in the Republican primaries came from a
long-shot, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas: “Over the course of my over
25 years of experience in the courtroom, I have seen first hand how a cavalier
and arrogant contempt for the rule of law can backfire. The jury verdict should
be treated with seriousness and is another example of the indefensible behavior
of Donald Trump.”

Image

Credit...Kaiti Sullivan for The New York Times
May 9, 2023, 3:48 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:48 p.m. ET

Lola Fadulu

Ashlee Humphreys, an expert in sociology and communications, testified on
Carroll’s behalf that it would cost as much as $2.7 million to run a
reputational repair campaign for Carroll.


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May 9, 2023, 3:45 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:45 p.m. ET

Maggie Haberman

Here is part of the Trump campaign’s first response: “In jurisdictions wholly
controlled by the Democratic Party our nation’s justice system is now
compromised by extremist left-wing politics. We have allowed false and totally
made-up claims from troubled individuals to interfere with our elections, doing
great damage.”

The campaign added: “This case will be appealed, and we will ultimately win.”

May 9, 2023, 3:43 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:43 p.m. ET

Daniel Victor

On Truth Social, Trump responded: “I have absolutely no idea who this woman is.
This verdict is a disgrace — a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all
time!”

May 9, 2023, 3:41 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:41 p.m. ET

Lola Fadulu

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said that for the jury to establish that Trump raped
Carroll, she had to prove that Trump engaged in sexual intercourse with her, and
that he did it without her consent. The judge said that sexual intercourse
includes “any penetration of the penis into the vaginal opening.”

May 9, 2023, 3:36 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:36 p.m. ET

Kate Christobek

Carroll just walked out of the Manhattan Federal Courthouse smiling ear to ear
and holding hands with her attorney Roberta Kaplan.

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May 9, 2023, 3:36 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:36 p.m. ET

Kate Christobek

A woman yelled to her, “You’re so brave and beautiful,” to which Carroll said,
“Thank you, thank you so much.” She didn’t answer any questions and got in a car
to leave.


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May 9, 2023, 3:08 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 3:08 p.m. ET

Ben Weiser

The jury has found that Carroll did not prove Trump had raped her, but they did
determine that he had sexually abused her. The jurors also found that Trump had
defamed Carroll when he called her accusations false. They awarded her $5
million damages.

Image

Credit...Sophie Park for The New York Times
May 9, 2023, 2:55 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 2:55 p.m. ET

Kate Christobek


A CIVIL TRIAL DIFFERS IN KEY RESPECTS FROM A CRIMINAL CASE.

Image

The jurors deliberated for about three hours on Tuesday before reaching their
verdict.Credit...Brittainy Newman for The New York Times


The accusation at the heart of the trial that just ended in Manhattan federal
court sounds like a classic criminal case — an alleged sexual assault in the
dressing room of a luxury department store.

But the jury of nine New Yorkers were not asked to decide if former president
Donald J. Trump was guilty of raping the writer E. Jean Carroll as she testified
he did in the mid 1990s. No criminal charges were ever brought.

Instead, Ms. Carroll sued Mr. Trump for battery and defamation.

That means the jury was asked to determine Mr. Trump’s “liability” — whether Mr.
Trump is legally responsible for harming Ms. Carroll in ways that meet New York
State’s definition of battery.

The jurors began their deliberations just before noon on Tuesday. Their verdicts
must be unanimous.

To have Mr. Trump found liable for battery, Ms. Carroll must clear a lower bar
than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard of a criminal trial. Instead,
jurors must find that the “preponderance of the evidence” supports Ms. Carroll’s
claim to have been raped, sexually abused or forcibly touched by Mr. Trump,
meaning the jury believes the accusation is more likely true than untrue. The
jury must also decide how much to award Ms. Carroll in damages if they side with
her.

The jury also examined Ms. Carroll’s defamation claim, stemming from a 2022 post
on Truth Social in which Mr. Trump called Ms. Carroll’s case “a complete con
job” and “a Hoax and a lie.” The jurors have to decide if Mr. Trump knew what he
was saying was false but said it anyway to meet a standard known as “actual
malice.”

Should the jurors find Mr. Trump liable for defamation, they will also assess
what, if any, additional damages to award to Ms. Carroll.

Ms. Carroll has not requested a specific amount of damages she is seeking for
her battery claim. Last week, an expert witness called by Ms. Carroll testified
it would cost as much as $2.7 million to run a campaign that would repair her
reputation.

Show more
May 9, 2023, 2:51 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 2:51 p.m. ET

Ben Weiser

A verdict has been reached in the E. Jean Carroll v. Trump trial, according to a
court spokesman. It will be delivered at 3 p.m. today in the courtroom. The jury
began deliberating today shortly before noon.


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May 9, 2023, 2:49 p.m. ETMay 9, 2023
May 9, 2023, 2:49 p.m. ET

Benjamin Weiser, Lola Fadulu, Kate Christobek and Karen Zraick


HERE’S WHAT WAS SAID DURING THE CLOSING ARGUMENTS.

Image

Roberta Kaplan, E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer, and Joseph Tacopina, Donald J. Trump’s
lawyer, delivered closing arguments on Monday.Credit...Left: Anna Watts for The
New York Times; right: Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times


During closing arguments on Monday in the civil trial over the writer E. Jean
Carroll’s accusation that former President Donald J. Trump raped her, one of her
lawyers focused on the man who was missing from the courtroom.

Mr. Trump did not testify on his own behalf or even show up.

“He just decided not to be here,” the lawyer, Michael J. Ferrara, told the jury
on Monday. “He never looked you in the eye and denied raping Ms. Carroll.”

He added, “You should draw the conclusion that that’s because he did it.”

But Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said that there was no reason for his
client to appear in court. The rape allegation, he said, was a complete
invention.

“Amazing. Odd. Inconceivable. Unbelievable,” Mr. Tacopina said. “Everything in
this case is one of those things.”

As closing arguments began Monday morning, Roberta A. Kaplan, Ms. Carroll’s lead
lawyer, took the jury through the evidence, Ms. Carroll’s testimony and
witnesses’ statements that she said supported it.

Ms. Kaplan said the defense’s position that Ms. Carroll and her witnesses were
all lying was preposterous. “Donald Trump’s defense here is essentially that
there is a vast conspiracy against him,” she said.

Over his closing that lasted more than two hours, Mr. Tacopina challenged not
only Ms. Carroll’s testimony but also that of nearly every other witness who
took the stand in her case.

“Donald Trump doesn’t have a story to tell here, other than to say it’s a lie,”
Mr. Tacopina said in his summation. He questioned who might even be appropriate
to call to the witness stand, asking, “How do you prove a negative?”


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