Former President Donald Trump reacted on Truth Social to the verdict in the rape and defamation suit brought by E Jean Carroll.
Trump was found liable for defamation and battery, with Carroll to be awarded $5 million in damages. Trump was not found guilty of rape, however. Trump defended himself on Truth Social, maintaining he didn’t know who Carroll was.
“I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!”
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The Manhattan federal court jury deliberated Tuesday for less than three hours in the civil case. Carroll alleged in 2019 that Trump raped her in 1995 or 1996 in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman department store. Carroll sued him after he denied even knowing her and labeled her accusations a “hoax and lie.” (RELATED: Trump Scores Major Victory In Defamation Case)
Trump’s attorneys requested a mistrial but were denied by Judge Lewis Kaplan. The court prevented Trump’s attorney’s from questioning Carroll on if she tried to obtain surveillance footage from the store that would show Trump’s presence at the time of the alleged incident. Lawyer Joe Tacopina also argued the court expressed a corroborative view to the jury that no one was present on the store’s sixth floor when the rape allegedly occurred despite the claim being disputed.
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T. Belman. This was a civil case seeking damages rather than a criminal case. Thus the standard of proof required was the balance of probabilities rather than beyond a reasonable doubt.
The verdict was dismissed by the (legal) team as another attempt to take down Trump, who is currently the leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential nomination. Trump’s team plans an appeal.
Meanwhile, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is planning to compete against Trump for the party nod, issued a statement as well:
“Over the course of my over 25 years of experience in the courtroom, I have seen firsthand how a cavalier and arrogant contempt for the rule of law can backfire. The jury verdict should be treated with seriousness and is another example of the indefensible behavior of Donald Trump. “
The decision-making process
Kaplan told jurors that the first question on the verdict form was to decide whether they think there is more than a 50% chance that Trump raped Carroll inside a store dressing room. If they answered yes, they would then decide whether compensatory and punitive damages should be awarded.
If they answered no on the rape question, they could 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 answered yes on either of those questions, they will decide if damages are appropriate.
On defamation claims stemming from a statement Trump made on social media last October, Kaplan said jurors needed to be guided by a higher legal standard — clear and convincing evidence.
He said they would have to agree it was “highly probable” that Trump’s statement was false and was made maliciously with deliberate intent to injure or out of hatred or ill will with reckless disregard for Carroll’s rights.
Meanwhile, Trump posted a new message on social media, complaining that he is now awaiting the jury’s decision “on a False Accusation.” He said he is “not allowed to speak or defend myself, even as hard nosed reporters scream questions about this case at me.”
Trump said he will not speak until after the trial, “but will appeal the Unconstitutional silencing of me … no matter the outcome!”
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’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, said Thursday that his client would not testify.
Tacopina told the jury in closing arguments Monday that Carroll’s 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.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, cited excerpts from Trump’s October deposition and his notorious comments on a 2005 “Access Hollywood” video in which he said celebrities can grab women between the legs without asking.
She urged jurors to believe her client.
“He didn’t even bother to show up here in person,” Kaplan said. She said much of what he said in his deposition and in public statements “actually supports our side of the case.”
“In a very real sense, Donald Trump is a witness against himself,” she said. “He knows what he did. He knows that he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll.”
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.
Tacopina told jurors there was no reason to call Trump as a witness when Carroll can’t even recall when her encounter with Trump happened.
He told the jury Carroll made up her claims after hearing about a 2012 “Law and Order” episode in which a woman is raped in the dressing room of the lingerie section of a Bergdorf Goodman store.
“They modeled their secret scheme on an episode of one of the most popular shows on television,” he said of Carroll.
Two of Carroll’s friends testified that she told them about the encounter with Trump shortly after it happened, many years before the “Law and Order” episode aired.
T. Belman. This would be very damaging testimony and probably sealed Trump’s fate.
What fool would believe that Pres. Trump would be in a dressing room with that dog in Bergdorf’s? Or even IN Bergdorf’s?
Putin would have a better chance of being named man of the year by the Brookings institute than Trump had getting a fair trial in NY.
Trump only made ONE mistake! He ran for President and wanted to Make America Great Again.
Trump made several bad mistakes. He called people names on social media and he refused to turn up for the trial. Anyone with any court experience knows that, when you become a party to the action, you shut up and speak only through your lawyers. You also turn up. This does not obviously guarantee that you will win, but it shows the jury that you take the matter seriously and it gives the jury a chance to assess you, not from what they have read about you, but from your behaviour and responses when questioned.
As for the witnesses’ testimony: here is what some studies have shown about eye-witness testimony. How much more do the points apply to people who were not there, but who were told about what happened:
Numerous studies have shown that memory changes over time. The most notable effects include:
Eyewitnesses incorporate information learned after the event into memory. For example, they may talk to another witness and use information from the conversation to fill in their reconstruction of the events. They may do this by combining two memories into one or by using bias or expectations of what probably was seen.
As people recall an event over and over, they drop details from earlier versions and add new details to later versions. All things being equal, accuracy declines with each new version, at least until an asymptote is reached. In some cases, however, an eyewitness accuracy is lower when questioned immediately after a traumatic event.
The whole article can be accessed by clicking on the link that follows:
https://www.visualexpert.com/Resources/eyewitnessmemory.html
They are running very scared and will try anything to stop him. Let’s all pray for him .
So basically it hangs on what two of her friends said. Some justice!