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Published: May 9, 2023, 7:29 p.m.

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A Manhattan federal jury has found that Donald Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room in the spring of 1996.

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The jury found him liable for battery in Carroll\\u2019s civil trial against him, based on that sexual assault claim.

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The jury found that Donald Trump should pay about $2 million in damages.

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US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan read instructions on the law to the nine-person jury before the panel began discussing Carroll\\u2019s allegations of battery and defamation shortly before noon, New York time.

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If they believe Carroll, jurors can award compensatory and punitive damages. Trump, who did not attend the trial, has insisted he never sexually assaulted Carroll or even knew her.

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Jean Carroll arrives at Manhattan federal court. Photo / John Minchillo, AP

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Kaplan told jurors that the first question on the verdict form will be to decide whether they think there is more than a 50 per cent chance that Trump raped Carroll inside a store dressing room. If they answer yes, they will then decide whether compensatory and punitive damages should be awarded.

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If they answer no to the rape question, they can then decide if Trump subjected her to lesser forms of assault involving sexual contact without her consent or forcible touching to degrade her or gratify his sexual desire. If they answer yes to either of those questions, they will decide if damages are appropriate.

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On defamation claims stemming from a statement Trump made on social media last October, Kaplan said jurors must be guided by a higher legal standard \\u2014 clear and convincing evidence. He said they would have to agree it was \\u201chighly probable\\u201d that Trump\\u2019s statement was false and was made maliciously with deliberate intent to injure or out of hatred or ill will with reckless disregard for Carroll\\u2019s rights.

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Meanwhile, Trump posted a new message on social media, complaining that he is now awaiting the jury\\u2019s decision \\u201con a False Accusation.\\u201d He said he is \\u201cnot allowed to speak or defend myself, even as hard-nosed reporters scream questions about this case at me\\u201d.

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Trump said he will not speak until after the trial, \\u201cbut will appeal the Unconstitutional silencing of me ... no matter the outcome!\\u201d

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Trump never attended the trial, which is in its third week, and rejected an invitation to testify, which the judge extended through the weekend even after Trump\\u2019s attorney, Joe Tacopina, said Thursday that his client would not testify.

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Joe Tacopina, Donald Trump\'s lawyer, arrives in Manhattan federal court in New York. Photo / Seth Wenig, AP

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Tacopina told the jury in closing arguments Monday that Carroll\\u2019s account is too far-fetched to be believed. He said she made it up to fuel sales of a 2019 memoir in which she first publicly revealed her claims and to disparage Trump for political reasons.

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Carroll\\u2019s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, cited excerpts from Trump\\u2019s October deposition and his notorious comments on a 2005 \\u201cAccess Hollywood\\u201d video in which he said celebrities can grab women between the legs without asking.

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She urged jurors to believe her client.

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\\u201cHe didn\\u2019t even bother to show up here in person,\\u201d Kaplan said. She said much of what he said in his deposition and in public statements \\u201cactually supports our side of the case.\\u201d

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\\u201cIn a very real sense, Donald Trump is a witness against himself,\\u201d she said. \\u201cHe knows what he did. He knows that he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll.\\u201d

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Carroll, 79, testified that she had a chance encounter with Trump at the Bergdorf Goodman store across the street from Trump Tower. She said it was a lighthearted interaction in which they teased each other about trying on a piece of lingerie before Trump became violent inside a dressing room.

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Supporters cheer E. Jean Carroll, second from right, as she arrives at Manhattan federal court. Photo / John Minchillo, AP

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Tacopina told jurors there was no reason to call Trump as a witness when Carroll can\\u2019t even recall when her encounter with Trump happened.

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He told the jury Carroll made up her claims after hearing about a 2012 \\u201cLaw and Order\\u201d episode in which a woman is raped in the dressing room of the lingerie section of a Bergdorf Goodman store.

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\\xa0\\u201cThey modeled their secret scheme on an episode of one of the most popular shows on television,\\u201d he said of Carroll.

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Two of Carroll\\u2019s friends testified that she told them about the encounter with Trump shortly after it happened, many years before the \\u201cLaw and Order\\u201d episode aired.

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- Larry Neumeister, AP

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