Democrats Cheer Decision Against Trump in Civil Suit Brought by E. Jean Carroll
Democrats celebrated on May 9 a jury in New York ruling against former President Donald Trump in a federal civil case brought against him by writer E. Jean Carroll from an alleged sexual assault against her in a New York department store.
The jury awarded Carroll $5 million: $2 million in compensatory damages and $20,000 in punitive damages in the battery claim, and $2.7 million in compensatory damages and $280,000 in punitive damages in the defamation claim.
Although the finding of sexual abuse was enough to establish his liability for battery, the jury did not find that Trump raped Carroll, who made the allegations against him stemming from a spring 1996 encounter at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan.
Trump, who is running for president in 2024 and has denied the allegations, railed against the verdict. His lawyer said he would be appealing the decision.
“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.
But, in Twitter posts, Democrats applauded the decision.
“The leader of the republican party donald trump was just found liable for sexually assaulting a woman and ordered to pay $5,000,000. A civil jury just found the leader of the republican party committed sexual assault,” wrote Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J.).
“Good,” wrote Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) in a retweet of a post with the $5 million news.
“Donald Trump has been convicted of sexual assault. And Kevin McCarthy is all in with his sexually abusive pal,” wrote Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.).
However, Trump was not convicted; rather, he was deemed civilly liable.
“Donald Trump—the leader of the Republican Party—has now been impeached twice, indicted, and found liable of sexual abuse and defamation. You’ve hitched your wagon to a real stand-up guy, @HouseGOP,” posted Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).
“The *front runner* for the Republican nomination for President of the United States has just been found liable for sexual abuse. The more these lawsuits pile up, the more of an aggrieved version of Trump we’ll get. He is unfit to hold office,” wrote Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.).
“Trust women,” posted Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.) in a retweet of a post with the $5 million news.
Following the verdict, Judge Lewis Kaplan told jurors they may discuss the case, though he advised them not to—at least in the interim.
“My advice to you is not to identify yourselves. Not now and not for a long time,” he said. “If you’re one who elects to speak to others and to identify yourselves to others, I direct you not to identify anyone else who sat on this jury. Each of you owes that to the other, whatever you decided for yourself.”
The Carroll case was part of a number of legal troubles for Trump.
A New York grand jury voted on March 30 to indict Trump over allegedly misreporting a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels just weeks before the 2016 election. Trump was arraigned on April 4.
Trump also faces investigations stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and the discovery of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in 2022.
