“The world finally knows the truth”

(New York) The smile of E. Jean Carroll said it all. Leaving New York federal court on Tuesday afternoon, the 79-year-old author did not stop to address reporters. But his happiness could be read on his face.

And for good reason: after a two-week civil trial – and three short hours of deliberation – a jury of six men and three women concluded that Donald Trump was responsible for sexual assault and defamation of the ex. – magazine columnist She.

The jury also decided that the former president will have to pay $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages for the sexual assault and defamation.

About two hours later, E. Jean Carroll finally expressed his joy in a written statement.

“I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear my name and get my life back. Today, the world finally knows the truth. This victory is not just for me, but for all women who have suffered because they were not believed,” she said.

“A shame”, says Trump

Donald Trump, he had made his reaction known immediately after the announcement of the verdict in a message published on Truth Social, his platform.

“I have absolutely no idea who this woman is,” he wrote.

Later, on Fox News Digital, he added, “We will appeal. We were treated very badly by the judge appointed by [Bill] Clinton. He repeated, “I have no idea who this woman is. »

His lawyer, Joe Tacopina, has also promised to appeal the verdict.

“Strange verdict,” he told reporters. “It was a rape complaint, it was a rape case all along, and the jury dismissed that complaint and made other findings. We will of course be appealing these other findings. »

In a book published in 2019, E. Jean Carroll accused Donald Trump of raping her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman store on 5^e Avenue, in Manhattan, in 1996. The former president had denied the accusation on Truth Social in 2022, calling the case a “total scam”, a “hoax” and a “lie”.

The jury rejected the allegation that Donald Trump raped E. Jean Carroll, that is, he had sex with her without her consent. But he concluded that the property developer had sexually assaulted the journalist.

During testimony that spanned three days, E. Jean Carroll said she was encouraged to break her long silence on the sexual assault by the Harvey Weinstein case and the #metoo movement. She was certainly not the first woman to accuse the former president of misconduct or sexual assault – more than a dozen had already done so – but she is the first to see her allegations largely accredited by a jury.

In theory, this civil trial represented less danger for Donald Trump than the criminal investigations and trials of which he is the subject and which could earn him prison sentences. In late March, he became the first former US president to be indicted for a crime. He will face 34 charges for falsifying corporate documents in connection with the Stormy Daniels case, named after the porn actress who claims to have had sex with him.

But Democratic pollster Celinda Lake said recently that the civil trial for rape and defamation was followed with particular interest by a segment of the electorate that Donald Trump is trying to bring back into the Republican fold: white women in American suburbs.

“I don’t think he can be elected”

At least one candidate for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election has tried to exploit the verdict of the New York jury. It is the former governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, who is however not considered a threat to Donald Trump.

“In my 25 years of experience in courtrooms, I have seen with my own eyes how a cavalier and arrogant disregard for the rule of law can backfire,” the former federal prosecutor said. .

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel was much more circumspect. During an interview on Fox News, she argued that voters were ready to “move on.”

“People vote based on what’s going on in their lives,” she said.

But Republican Senator from Texas, John Cornyn, is not convinced that the American electorate will forget the verdict of the New York jury.

“I don’t think he can be elected,” he told CBS News of the man who is well ahead of other Republican Party presidential candidates in the polls.

Donald Trump will not have testified during the lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll. But his own words will have trapped him. During her final argument, the author’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, presented an excerpt from a deposition by the ex-president where the latter confuses the ex-journalist with his ex-wife Marla Maples in a photo dating from the 1980s.

« Qu’a fait M. Trump après que je lui ai montré cette photo ? », a demandé l’avocate en s’adressant aux jurés. « Il l’a regardée pendant un moment, puis, sans que je le lui demande, il a dit : “C’est Marla.” C’était exactement son type ! »

Depuis 2019, Donald Trump avait non seulement répété qu’il n’avait jamais rencontré E. Jean Carroll, mais également qu’elle n’était pas « son type ».

« Il a dit que la photo était floue. Mais c’est la photo, mesdames et messieurs », a poursuivi Roberta Kaplan. « La vérité, c’est qu’E. Jean Carroll, ancienne meneuse de claques et Miss Indiana, était exactement le type de Donald Trump. »

Donald Trump devrait de nouveau être sur la sellette jeudi soir à l’occasion d’une assemblée publique tenue au New Hampshire et diffusée en direct par CNN. La décision de la chaîne d’information d’offrir pareille tribune à un candidat présidentiel réputé pour ses mensonges lui a valu des critiques.

L’animatrice Kaitlan Collins agira à titre de modératrice. Si l’assemblée a lieu comme prévu, elle subira le plus important test de sa jeune carrière face à un candidat présidentiel qui vient d’être jugé responsable d’agression sexuelle.