West News Wire: On Tuesday, a Manhattan jury found former president Donald Trump guilty of sexually assaulting magazine writer E. Jean Carroll. The jury also determined that Trump was responsible for defamation because he called the allegations against him “a hoax” and a “total con job.”
The jury in the civil trial found Trump guilty of “battery” and defaming Carroll after three hours of deliberation, but not of rape. The writer was awarded $5 million in damages by the former president.
Carroll had accused Trump of raping her in a Fifth Avenue department store dressing room back in the 1990s, but she was unable to establish that he had actually had sex with her and done so without her consent.
Senior US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, presiding over the case, noted that sexual intercourse includes “any penetration of the penis into the vaginal opening.”
Trump has consistently denied ever having met Carroll and insisted the entire trial was politically motivated.
“I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. This verdict is a disgrace a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time!” Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after the verdict.
Multiple outlets have reported that Carroll’s lawsuit was proposed by anti-Trump activist George Conway, and funded by billionaire LinkedIn founded Reid Hoffman a major donor to the Democrats.
