Former President Donald Trump is facing a civil defamation trial in New York over his 2019 statements denying the sexual assault allegations made by writer E. Jean Carroll.
A jury will decide how much in damages Trump must pay Carroll, who claims that Trump’s remarks damaged her reputation and caused her emotional distress. Here are some key facts about the case:
The allegations: Carroll alleges that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store in Manhattan, in the mid-1990s. She says that Trump pushed her against a wall, pulled down her tights, and raped her. She did not report the incident to the police at the time, but she confided in two friends, who corroborated her account. She went public with her story in June 2019, in an excerpt from her memoir published by New York magazine.
The denial: Trump denied ever meeting Carroll, despite a photo showing them together at a party in 1987. He also said that Carroll was “not my type” and that she was lying to sell her book and help the Democratic Party. He accused her of being part of a “hoax” and a “con job” orchestrated by the "fake news media".
The lawsuit: Carroll sued Trump for defamation in November 2019, seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. She also sought a DNA sample from Trump to compare with a dress she says she wore during the alleged assault and never washed. Trump tried to dismiss the case, arguing that he was immune from lawsuits as a sitting president and that his statements were protected by the First Amendment. He also tried to move the case from state to federal court, where he hoped to have it dismissed under a law that shields federal employees from defamation claims arising from their official duties.
The verdict: In October 2020, a state judge rejected Trump’s bid to dismiss the case, ruling that he was not immune from state lawsuits and that his statements were not within the scope of his presidential duties. In August 2021, a federal judge also rejected Trump’s attempt to move the case to federal court, sending it back to state court5. In November 2021, a state judge ordered Trump to sit for a deposition and provide a DNA sample. In January 2022, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll, but not liable for her alleged rape. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages in damages in a civil case in May 2023, Wall Street Journal reported.
The reaction: Carroll said she was “overjoyed” by the verdict and thanked the jury for “believing” her. She said she hoped her case would inspire other survivors of sexual violence to come forward and seek justice. Trump said he was “outraged” by the verdict and vowed to appeal. He called the trial a “witch hunt” and a “political hit job” and repeated his denial of the allegations. He also accused the judge, the jury, and the media of being biased against him.
