A jury found Donald Trump liable Tuesday for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in a judgment that could haunt the former president as he campaigns to regain the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The verdict was split: Jurors rejected Carroll\u2019s claim that she was raped, finding Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse. The judgment adds to Trump\u2019s legal woes and offers vindication to Carroll, whose allegations had been mocked and dismissed by Trump for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She nodded as the verdict was announced in a New York City federal courtroom only three hours after deliberations had begun<\/a>, then hugged supporters and smiled through tears. As the courtroom cleared, Carroll could be heard laughing and crying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jurors also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll over her allegations. Trump did not attend the civil trial and was absent when the verdict was read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump immediately lashed out on his social media site, claiming that he does not know Carroll and referring to the verdict as \u201ca disgrace\u201d and \u201ca continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time.\u201d He promised to appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, shook hands with Carroll and hugged her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, after the verdict was announced. Outside the courthouse, he told reporters the jury\u2019s rejection of the rape claim while finding Trump responsible for sexual abuse was \u201cperplexing\u201d and \u201cstrange.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPart of me was obviously very happy that Donald Trump was not branded a rapist,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He defended Trump\u2019s absence, citing the trial\u2019s \u201ccircus atmosphere.\u201d He said having Trump there \u201cwould be more of a circus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tacopina added: \u201cWhat more can you say other than \u2018I didn\u2019t do it\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a written statement, Kaplan said the verdict proved nobody is above the law, \u201cnot even the president of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carroll, in her own statement, said she sued Trump to \u201cclear 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was unclear what, if any, implications the verdict would have on Trump\u2019s third presidential bid. He\u2019s in a commanding position among GOP contenders and has faced few political consequences in the wake of previous controversies, ranging from the vulgar \u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d tape to his New York criminal indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His GOP rivals were mostly silent after the verdict, a sign of their reluctance to cross Trump supporters who are critical to winning the presidential nomination. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, one of the few vocal Trump critics in the race, said the verdict was \u201canother example of the indefensible behavior of Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carroll<\/a> was one of more than a dozen women who have accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment. She went public in a 2019 memoir with her allegation that the Republican raped her in the dressing room of a posh Manhattan department store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump, 76, denied it<\/a>, saying he never encountered Carroll at the store and did not know her. He has called her a \u201cnut job\u201d who invented \u201ca fraudulent and false story\u201d to sell a memoir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carroll, 79, sought unspecified damages, plus a retraction of what she said were Trump\u2019s defamatory denials of her claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The trial revisited the lightning-rod topic of Trump\u2019s conduct toward women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n