A civil jury has ruled that former President Donald Trump sexually harassed Elle columnist Elizabeth Jean Carroll.
Many criminal cases against Donald Trump are beginning to reach their logical conclusion – the court verdict. So, the jury ruled in a civil suit that Trump sexually harassed the writer and columnist for Elle magazine Elizabeth Jean Carroll and ordered her to pay $ 5 million in compensation.
This is the first time that a former US president has been found legally responsible for sexual assault.
Almost 20 years old case
Carroll first spoke about the incident in the summer of 2019. His book says he met Trump at New York’s Bergdorf Goodman department store in 1996. A cordial conversation took place between them, after which Trump invited him to try on underwear, which he considers a gift for another woman. According to Carroll, Trump accompanied her to the fitting room, where she was raped.
EPA
Elizabeth Jean Carroll after her victory in court
Trump’s position
Trump denied all the accusations, saying that the writer was defaming him to sell more books. After this, Carroll filed a libel suit against him. However, Trump was already president at the time, so the case was almost frozen: the judges could not decide whether Trump’s words were spoken in private or whether he spoke in his capacity as president, and the head of state has immunity from criminal prosecution. But in 2023, the court took up the case.
Already in court, one of the former president’s arguments in his defense is that Jean Carroll is not to his taste. It is worth noting that he reacted exactly the same way to the allegations of rape made against him by Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoinof, who also acted as witnesses for the prosecution.
The truth of this statement, however, was called into question when Donald Trump was found to have confused Jean Carroll with his ex-wife, the actress Marla Maples.
During the deposition, Trump was shown a black-and-white photo of him talking to a man and two women at an event. When asked who it was, he immediately replied: “Marla.” His own lawyer was forced to correct the former president by explaining that the woman in the photo was Jean Carroll. Now Trump has to pay.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.