Yesterday a jury in Manhattan found Donald Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. The world’s most famous sex pest, who bragged on camera about grabbing women “by the pussy” with impunity, will finally face a consequence for decades of horrible behavior.
Five million dollars doesn’t begin to cover this degenerate’s tab of course. But it’s a start.
Currently, Trump’s allies are trying to spin this as a win because the jury did not not hold Trump liable for rape, but only for assault. Carroll’s memory of being forcibly penetrated by Trump’s fingers was clear and visceral, but her recollection of whether he succeeded in forcing intercourse was hazier. In the event, this may make the case even more ironclad on appeal — clearly the jury wasn’t a bunch of Trump-hating liberals rubber stamping Carroll’s claims; they carefully considered each and every element of the charges.
Lest anyone be confused as to whether this was a win for the defendant, Trump is having a full blown manic episode on Truth Social over the verdict. In dozens of posts, he screeched in rage at Judge Lewis Kaplan, the jurors, Democratic prosecutors (in a civil case?), and the Biden DOJ (okay, grandpa, let’s get you back to bed).
This Clinton appointed Judge, Lewis Kaplan, hated President Donald J. Trump more than is humanly possible. He is a terrible person, completely biased, and should have RECUSED himself when asked to do so. He quickly refused! This case should never have been allowed to be tried in this completely partisan venue, perhaps the worst for me in the Nation! The whole Rigged Hoax is yet another TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE, a continuation of the greatest political Witch Hunt of all time!!!
Yes, let’s talk about the “completely partisan venue,” shall we?
Carroll’s original case was filed in November of 2019 in state court after she described being raped in the mid-nineties in a Bergdorf Goodman’s dressing room by the (in 2019) incumbent president, only to have him slime her to reporters as a liar perpetrating a Democratic hoax. He also claimed that he couldn’t have raped her because she was not his “type.” Stay classy!
If you believe that the attack happened, as the jury clearly did, then Trump himself selected the venue by forcing himself on a woman there. But Trump was so terrified of facing Carroll in state court that he chose to avail himself of the services of the federal judiciary — but only after he ducked the process server, claimed to be absolutely immune from civil suit as the sitting president, asserted that New York state courts lacked jurisdiction over him as a Florida resident, and completely refused to cooperate with discovery. When all of that failed and a state judge ordered him to submit DNA to compare to male genetic material on the dress Carroll wore the day of the attack, Attorney General Bill Barr swooped in to remove the case to federal court on the theory that Trump was acting within the scope of his official duties when he called Carroll a liar and implied she was too unattractive to rape.
That is how he wound up in the Southern District of New York before Judge Kaplan, who had no more obligation to recuse because he was appointed by Bill Clinton than Judge Aileen Cannon did when the man who appointed her shambled into her courtroom seeking to challenge a judicially authorized warrant on wholly bogus grounds. Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba proceeded to do everything she could to piss off the court, as is her wont, plastering the docket with frivolous motions to delay and dismiss the case, along with grossly bad faith allegations of impropriety by Carroll’s legal team. In fact, that original case is still languishing at the Second Circuit, which tried and more or less failed to get the DC Court of Appeals to say whether Trump’s shit talking about Carroll was part of his presidential obligations. (TL, DR: It’s probably a question for the jury.)
But along the way, in October of 2022, Trump repeated his nasty allegations, plus a whole bunch more, on Truth Social. That gave rise to a second defamation claim, which was combined with a sexual battery claim under the newly enacted Adult Survivors Act, and made up the second complaint which was adjudicated yesterday. And by the by, while Trump is ranting about how much New Yorkers hate him, let’s note that federal juries draw from a wide geographic area, and fewer than half the panel were New York City residents.
Trump is currently raging about evidence excluded in the case:
The partisan Judge & Jury on the just concluded Witch Hunt Trial should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for allowing such a travesty of Justice to take place. The “Dress,” which played such a big roll early on as a threatening bluff, but which ended up being totally exculpatory, was not allowed into the trial as evidence. Nor was her cat’s name, “Vagina,” the racist name she called her Black husband, “Ape,” getting caught in a lie on the political operative paying for this Hoax, & much more!
After refusing for three years to submit his DNA and disclose the source of his own litigation funding, Trump’s lawyers tried and failed to sneak that stuff in on the eve of trial. He also hoped to dirty her up with irrelevant, prejudicial details which had nothing to do with the case. But the appeal is more likely to center on evidence his own lawyers failed to convince the judge to exclude, including the “Access Hollywood” tape and testimony by two other women who described attempted sexual assaults by Trump in similar semi-public circumstances.
But perhaps most devastating to Trump’s case was his own videotaped deposition testimony, parts of which were played for the jury. In one clip, Trump mistook a photo of Carroll for his wife — rather giving the lie to the claim that she wasn’t his type. In another he volunteered that he was not sexually attracted to Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge), whom he later promised to sue. And worst of all, he affirmed his comments in the “Access Hollywood” tape, agreeing that he was “a star,” and “fortunately or unfortunately” they have been letting you “do it” for thousands of years.
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s lawyers didn’t want Trump anywhere near the jury, and he never set foot once in the courtroom.
The appeals process is complicated. I discussed it in depth on the Opening Arguments podcast with former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner, who noted that if Trump simply let the judgment stand, he could force Carroll to spend a lot of time and money trying to collect the $5 million. But if Trump appeals, he has has to write a check to the court for the full $5 million plus two years of interest at 9 percent for what’s called a supersedeas bond. After Trump and his lawyers embarrass themselves before the appeals panel, Carroll will automatically get the money — although she’ll have to pay her lawyers to argue the case at the Second Circuit, so it’s probably a wash.
But Trump can pay his own lawyers with PAC money grifted from the rubes, so … this thing isn’t over yet.
TL, DR? Fuck that guy, and his lawyers, too.
But let’s give the last word to E.Jean Carroll, who is a badass hero for the ages.
I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear my name and to get my life back. Today, the world finally knows the truth. This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed.
And with that we bring you your OPEN THREAD.
[Carroll v. Trump I, Docket via Court Listener / Carroll v. Trump II, Docket via Court Listener]
Catch Liz Dye on Opening Arguments podcast.
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