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Washington, May 10.- A New York jury has found former US President Donald Trump responsible for sexually assaulting the writer E. Jean Carroll, who assured that the politician raped her in 1996, while she accompanied him to a shopping center, reports Bloomberg.
In the verdict delivered the day before, the jury made up of six men and three women ruled that the former US president committed a crime of sexual abuse and not rape, of which the woman accused him in her lawsuit filed decades later from what occurred.
The jury decided that Trump must pay Carroll $3 million in defamation, plus $2 million in civil damages.
Because this is a civil case and not a criminal one, Trump never risked jail time on Carroll's allegations. His lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, previously told the court that the former president had waived his right to testify at trial and chose not to present a defense in the case, betting that jurors will find the plaintiff failed to present a persuasive case.
Following the jury's decision, Trump claimed he did not know the plaintiff and called the ruling a "shame" and a "witch hunt."
"I have no idea who this woman is," the former president declared. "This verdict is a shame, a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time!" he added.
Carroll, for her part, said her legal victory against Trump is not just for her, but "for all the women who have suffered because they were not believed."
According to Carroll, Trump, then a real estate businessman known in New York society, asked her help choose a gift for a woman and she accepted.
At the mall, Trump invited her to try on a bodysuit, but Carroll didn't suspect any malice on the mogul's part even after he closed the fitting room door. According to her complaint, that's when Trump kissed her on the mouth, pulled down her stockings, and entered her, while she tried to get him off of her.
The writer stated that she had not told anyone except two friends for decades, because she feared reprisals from the powerful businessman and argued that many blame the rape victims themselves for what happens to them.
This trial has reignited attention on Trump's tense record with other women at a time when the politician plans to run for president again. It is also the first verdict against him personally in a series of legal cases that could hurt Trump's upcoming election race. (Text and photo: RT)
