A Manhattan jury awarded writer E. Jean Carroll $5 million on Tuesday after finding former President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming her while dismissing her rape claim.
The 79-year-old Carroll kept her head down as the verdict was read aloud in Manhattan federal court and nodded when she heard the jury found in favor of her defamation claim against Trump, who called her a liar after she came forward with allegations that he raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room in 1996.
The verdict could follow Trump in his presidential bid in 2024, and it is just one of many legal issues he is dealing with, including a pending criminal case involving “hush money” payments.
The case was decided by a 9-person jury consists of 3 women and 6 men, after three hours of deliberation which began shortly before noon on Tuesday.
Carroll and her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, did not speak to the crowd of reporters outside the Lower Manhattan courthouse as they exited hand in hand, the former “Ask E. Jean” columnist squeezing through the crowd and into a waiting car.
Following the verdict was out, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social and wrote “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!”