Trump claims he doesn’t know E. Jean Carroll, calls jury verdict ‘a disgrace’

• Trump reacts to verdict in the E. Jean Carroll trial.
• Will his presidential campaign be affected?
• The jury found him liable for sexual abuse.

The bad news for Donald Trump doesn’t stop. On Tuesday, May 9, the jury in the trial that has been tormenting the former president was announced. He was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.

The verdict was announced in a New York City court, after the jury deliberated for a very short time. Trump was unhappy with their decision, saying it was «a disgrace» adding that he has «never seen that person».

Trump claims he never met E. Jean Carroll though they were photographed together

Former President Donald Trump said he did not know E. Jean Carroll, although there are photos of them together, adding that the jury’s verdict finding him liable for sexual abuse and defamation was «a disgrace».

“I have no idea who this woman is. This verdict is a disgrace, the continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time,” he wrote on Truth Social, minutes after the news broke.

Carroll said she was raped by Trump in a department store dressing room

Carroll accused Trump of having raped her in the fitting room of a New York department store in the mid-1990s, and of defaming her when she decided to make her complaint public in a book that came out in 2019.

The jury began deliberating in the morning after a two-week trial and took less than three hours to reach a unanimous verdict, finding him liable for sexual abuse, but not rape, and defamation, according to EFE.

Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million

The former president will have to pay $5 million in compensation. Jurors rejected Carroll’s claims that she was raped, but found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll after she went public with her allegations.

Trump opted not to attend the civil trial and was absent when the verdict was read. Carroll nodded as it was read and she hugged her lawyers and supporters in the gallery, smiling through tears.

Carroll celebrates after the trial ruled in her favor

The trial outcome was vindication for Carroll, one of more than a dozen women who have accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment. She went public in 2019 with her allegation that he raped her in the dressing room of an upscale Manhattan department store, according to AP.

Carroll gave several days of candid, sometimes emotional testimony, backed by two friends who told jurors that she told them about the alleged attack shortly after. The jury also heard from Jessica Leeds, a former stockbroker who testified that Trump groped her against her will on a plane in the 1970s.