Donald Trump hit out at accuser E Jean Carroll after the jury in a civil trial found he sexually abused the writer.
In a string of 10 messages posted in a rant to the platform Truth Social on Tuesday, the most bizarre of the former president’s complaints was that the jury had not been told the name of Ms Carroll’s cat, Vagina T. Fireballl.
“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!” he wrote, also referencing an argument Ms Carroll wrote about in one of her books, in which she said she called her husband an ape.
As well as ranting about what the jury was not told, Mr Trump added: “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE - A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!”
A photo of Mr Trump meeting Ms Carroll was shown during the trial.
The former president made a number of posts on the topic, both protesting his innocence and questioning the testimony of Ms Carroll, 79, who sued the former president for allegedly raping her in a dressing room at the Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman in 1996, and then “destroying” her reputation when he claimed she was lying.
He added in the rant, which also featured video clips: “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!!!”
The jury didn’t find Mr Trump liable for raping Ms Carroll.
In the courtroom, the clerk read the verdict: “As to battery, did Ms Carroll prove that Mr Trump raped Ms Carroll?” The jury answered “No”.
But the jury did find that Mr Trump more likely than not sexually abused Ms Carroll, and awarded her $2m.
The jury also found Mr Trump liable for wonton disregard, for which Ms Carroll was awarded $20,000, according to Inner City Press.
Mr Trump was also found liable for defamation as the jury found that he made false statements about Ms Carroll.
The jury found that Mr Trump acted with actual malice and that Ms Carroll had been injured, for which she was awarded $1m. For repairing her reputation, Ms Carroll was awarded $1.7m. In total, Ms Carrol was awarded $5m.
Judge Lewis Kaplan told the jury, which has remained anonymous, that they’re allowed to speak about their experience and to publically identify themselves as having been a part of the jury. But he also shared his advice, telling them not to go public.
“Not now, and not for a long time,” he said, according to Law & Crime.
“I suggest you not identify yourselves,” he told the jury just before they left the courtroom, according to Inner City Press.
Judge Kaplan also directed the jury not to identify other members of the group.
As the verdict was read out, Ms Carroll sat emotionless in the front row beside her attorneys Roberta Kaplan and Shawn Crowley.
She nodded her head as Judge Lewis Kaplan thanked the jury for paying close attention to the evidence, “even when it wasn’t riveting”.
After the jury was led out, she hugged Ms Kaplan and Ms Crowley. Defence attorney Joe Tacopina approached and shook her hand and said, “Congratulations and good luck”.
As she left the court, Ms Carroll was heard saying “We’re very happy”.
Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina confirmed plans to appeal the liable verdict, saying that the Access Hollywood tape shouldn’t have been included in the trial. He added that Mr Trump can’t get a fair trial in New York.
In a statement, the Trump 2024 campaign said: “The Democratic Party’s never-ending witch-hunt of President Trump hit a new low today. In jurisdictions wholly controlled by the Democratic Party our nation’s justice system is now compromised by extremist left-wing politics. We have allowed false and totally made-up claims from troubled individuals to interfere with our elections, doing great damage.”
“Make no mistake, this entire bogus case is a political endeavor targeting President Trump because he is now an overwhelming front-runner to be once again elected President of the United States,” the campaign team added. “The continued abuse of our great Constitution for political ends is disgusting and cannot be tolerated. Our nation is in serious trouble when claims lacking any evidence or proof or eyewitnesses can invade our courts to score political points. Sadly, for the enemies of American freedom and democracy, President Trump will never stop fighting for the American people, no matter what the radical Democrats dream up next. This case will be appealed, and we will ultimately win.”
Meanwhile, Geraldo Rivera said on Fox News: “It is so parochial and partisan to suggest that a finding of sexual battery is nothing. This is not nothing.”
Attorney and legal scholar John Turley added: “Any other candidate faced with this type of verdict would likely never be seen again.”
Republican Senator John Cornyn told CBS News: “I don’t think [Mr Trump] can get elected.”
GOP Senator John Thune of South Dakota said: “It has a cumulative effect. People are gonna have to decide whether they want to deal with all the drama.”
Republican 2024 presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, said in a statement that “over the course of my over 25 years of experience in the courtroom, I have seen firsthand how a cavalier and arrogant contempt of the rule of law can backfire. The jury verdict should be treated with seriousness and is another example of the indefensible behaviour of Donald Trump”.
The jury heard graphic testimony from Ms Carroll and two other women Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff who accused Mr Trump of sexual assault.
Mr Trump’s “grab em by the p****” comments in the Access Hollywood tape amounted to a “confession”, Ms Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan told jurors in closing statements on Monday.
Ms Carroll “was exactly” Mr Trump’s type and had sexually assaulted her in the exact way that he had been caught describing his treatment of women on the infamous recording, Ms Kaplan added.
“In a real sense, Donald Trump is a witness against himself,” she said.
Ms Carroll, a longtime Elle magazine advice columnist, first revealed details of the sexual assault in a book excerpt that ran in New York magazine in June 2019.
Over three days of testimony, Ms Carroll told the jury that she and Mr Trump had engaged in playful banter after a chance encounter at Bergdorf Goodman one evening in the mid-1990s.
But after taking an escalator up to a deserted 6th floor to look for lingerie, Mr Trump led her to a dressing room, pushed her up against a wall and sexually assaulted her, she said.
“It was extremely painful,” Ms Carroll told the jury. “He put his hand inside me and curled his finger. As I sit here today, I can still feel it.”
Ms Carroll added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attackers despite the statute of limitations.
She told how the traumatic experience had left her incapable of forming romantic relationships.
The writer said she would be inundated with a “wave of slime” on social media every time Mr Trump commented or posted about her allegations.
As the case was tried in civil court, the jury had to find that Ms Carroll’s attorneys had proved Trump was liable for battery and defamation by a preponderous of evidence.
Leslie Lebowitz, a clinical psychologist, testified that Ms Carroll suffered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and had a panic attack after being shown an episode of the Trump-hosted reality show The Apprentice.
Ms Carroll slept with a loaded gun at her cabin in upstate New York after receiving death threats from Mr Trump’s supporters, Ms Lebowitz testified.
Mr Trump did not testify in the case, but the jury was played his deposition where he confused his second wife Marla Maples for Ms Carroll.
