(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump ripped a jury verdict that on Tuesday found the former president liable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million.
The Manhattan jury, which many critics claimed was inherently left-leaning, rejected Carroll’s allegation that she was raped by Trump, instead reaching to find Trump liable for sexual abuse and for defaming Carroll after she made her allegations public.
“I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. This verdict is a disgrace — a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Because Carroll’s suit was filed after the legal clock had long since expired on her claim of criminal attack, she filed a civil case claiming Trump’s denials had defamed her and harmed her reputation and career, according to the Associated Press. Last year, New York lawmakers carved out the opportunity to let people sue over sexual assault allegations that would otherwise be too old. Carroll was one of the first to file.
Lady: You raped me
Guy: No. I did not
Lady: Yes you did
Guy: When?
Lady: I don’t remember
Guy: uh?
Lady: “Rape is sexy”
Guy: This is insane
Lady: I’m suing you to prove it
Guy: ok
NY Jury: He didn’t rape you
Guy: Thanks
NY Jury: Now pay her $5,000,000.00
Guy: WHAT!?
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 9, 2023
Trump, who has consistently denied Carroll’s claims, said he would appeal the jury’s ruling.
Carroll’s attorney, along with the bulk of mainstream media, ignored the jury’s rejection of her rape allegation and focused on the sexual abuse and defamation ruling.
Carroll testified that during a 1996 encounter in a ritzy New York clothing store’s changing room, Trump pinned her against a wall, yanked down her pants and raped her as she tried to flee. She claimed that she was able to escape, but she never filed a police report, mentioned the harrowing incident to only two friends and never even referenced it in her personal diary. It wasn’t until the run-up to the 2020 campaign that Carroll made her allegations public.
In addition to Carroll’s testimony, jurors also heard from Jessica Leeds, a former stockbroker who claimed Trump groped her on an airplane in the 1970s, and from Natasha Stoynoff, a writer who said Trump forcibly kissed her during a 2005 interview. The jury, comprised of six men and three women, also viewed the infamous Access Hollywood tape of Trump boasting about grabbing and kissing women.
The Bill Clinton-appointed federal judge allowed other women to testify about their alleged experiences with Trump, even though “such evidence of character” is usually inadmissible, Breitbart reported. Because it was a civil and not a criminal case, the jury was also “allowed to draw negative inferences” from Trump’s decision to not testify.
Trump’s attorney, Joseph Tacopina, told jurors that there wasn’t any reason for the former president to testify because Carroll couldn’t even recall when the alleged incident happened.
Tacopina said that Carroll had concocted the whole story based on an episode of Law and Order, and that she “cannot produce any objective evidence to back up her claim because it didn’t happen,” he told jurors, accusing Carroll of “advancing a false claim of rape for money, for political reasons and for status.”
Trump’s campaign reiterated those sentiments in a statement issued Tuesday:
“The Democratic Party’s never-ending witch-hunt of President Trump hit a new low today. 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.
Make no mistake, this entire bogus case is a political endeavor targeting President Trump because he is now an overwhelming front-runner to be once again elected President of the United States.”
