Donald Trump Raped E. Jean Carroll, Not Just Sexual Abuse: Judge

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A jury found that Donald Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll but did not rape her. Trump’s lawyers wanted to reduce the jury’s $2 million damages award on that basis. The judge said Trump “raped” Carroll “as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.'” LoadingSomething is loading.

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In May, a jury in Manhattan federal court concluded that Donald Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll and defamed her when she called her a liar, awarding Carroll $5 million in damages.

The jury did not, Trump’s lawyers trumpeted at the time, find that Trump had “raped” Carroll at the center of his allegations.

The judge was not so convinced.

In an opinion issued Wednesday, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the trial, wrote that the trial evidence showed that Trump “raped” Carroll in the simple sense of the word.

“The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was ‘raped’ within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘ rape. ,'” Kaplan wrote. “In fact, as the evidence at trial cited below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump did indeed do just that.”

Kaplan’s opinion denied a motion from Trump’s lawyers to reduce the $2 million in damages a jury awarded Carroll for injuries he received as a result of Trump’s attack on him.

Caroll’s lawsuit alleges that, in the mid-1990s, Trump raped her at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan. She said Trump pushed her against the wall of a dressing room, inserted his fingers into her penis, and then, she believes, inserted his penis into her. Years later, Trump defamed her by calling her a liar for revealing the story, the lawsuit claims.

She was able to file the lawsuit, in November 2022, because New York state passed a law following the #MeToo movement that allows sexual misconduct accusers to file civil lawsuits if they are prevented by statute of limitations.

The jury will have to decide whether Trump is liable for the “battery” against Carroll. Definitions of acts that can constitute “battery,” Kaplan told jurors, are drawn from the New York state penal code. They need to determine whether Trump “raped,” “sexually abused,” or “forcefully touched” Carroll.

The difference between “rape” and “sexual abuse,” as Kaplan told jurors, is that “rape” means “any penetration of the genitals into the genital opening” while “sexual abuse ” means “any touching of the sexual or other intimate female. part of a person for the purpose of satisfying the sexual desire of any person.”

In the end, the jury agreed that Trump had sexually abused Carrol but not that he had raped her.

“Ms. Carroll testified about the specific physical memory and excruciating pain of digital penetration at great length and in greater detail than penile penetration,” Kaplan wrote in her opinion. “He admitted that he could not see exactly what Mr. Trump entered but testified based on his gut feeling.”

Based on that difference, Trump’s lawyers asked the judge to reduce the $5 million damage award. (Trump is also appealing the entire case.)

Carroll is taking Trump to court again

In his opinion upholding the jury’s verdict, Kaplan took issue with denials that Trump “raped” Carroll.

Ordinary dictionaries, the FBI, the US military code, other state laws, and the American Psychological Association, and “common modern parlance” all define “rape” in ways that match the findings. of the jury, beyond the “narrow, technical definition of a particular section of New York Penal Law,” he wrote.

Trump’s argument is “incorrect at every step,” according to Kaplan.

“Mr. Trump’s argument therefore ignores the bulk of the evidence at trial, misinterprets the jury’s verdict, and erroneously focuses on the New York Penal Law definition of ‘rape’ to the exclusion of that word’s meaning as it is often used in everyday life and of evidence of what actually happened between Ms. Carroll and Mr. Trump,” Kaplan wrote.

Carroll is set to take Trump to court again, in January, over similar claims.

The trial earlier this year was for Carroll’s November 2022 lawsuit, referred to in court as “Carroll II.”

She first sued Trump in 2019, in a lawsuit known as “Carroll I,” when she first went public with her accusations and called him a politically motivated liar.

Carroll I was tied up in the courts over questions about whether Trump was acting in his presidential role while making the denials, so he was immune from suit.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department dropped its defense of Trump, clearing the way for another trial.

“Now that the court has denied Trump’s motion for a new trial or to reduce the amount of the verdict, E Jean Carroll expects to receive the $5 million in damages awarded to her by the jury in Carroll II,” the attorney said. Carroll’s Roberta Kaplan said in a statement Wednesday. “He also hopes to continue to hold Trump accountable for what he did to him at the Carrol I trial, which is scheduled to begin on January 15, 2024.”

A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

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