Former US President Donald Trump has been convicted of sexual abuse in a civil lawsuit. The plaintiff receives millions in damages.
Former US President Donald Trump has been convicted of sexual abuse in a civil trial in Manhattan. The jury, consisting of six men and three women, ruled that Trump must pay the plaintiff, writer E. Jean Carroll, five million dollars (around 4.56 million euros) in damages. However, the allegation of rape was dismissed.
After a three-hour deliberation, the jury reached a unanimous verdict. They also found that Trump’s comments on his social network Truth Social last October amounted to defamation. At the time he had described Carroll’s allegations as “complete fraud” and “hoax and lies”.
Trump himself did not personally take part in the process – his testimony was recorded on video. After the verdict was announced, he shared a post on Truth Social. In it he writes that he has no idea who the plaintiff is. It is “a sequel to the greatest witch hunt of all time”.
Because this is a civil lawsuit, Trump’s conviction carries no criminal penalties, and he faces no jail time. In general, a guilty verdict is considered lower threshold in US civil law, since the jury only has to classify an act as more likely. In a criminal trial, on the other hand, guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Effects on candidacy are unclear
Carroll accuses Trump of raping her in a fitting room at Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s and then damaging her reputation and career by lying online. A social media and marketing expert hired by Carroll estimated the financial damage could range from $368,000 to $2.8 million. Carroll sought damages of an unspecified amount.
Trump had described the lawsuit as politically motivated. He wants to run again for the Republicans in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. Carroll is not the first woman to accuse Trump of sexual abuse. So far, Trump has denied all allegations. But now, for the first time, there has been a conviction. To what extent this could affect his election campaign is unclear.
After all, he has been at the center of numerous scandals and affairs in recent years and is currently the subject of several judicial investigations. However, this never really harmed his approval ratings, Trump’s supporters let him get away with a lot.
This also includes Trump’s dealings with women. Unforgotten, just before the 2016 presidential election, a sound recording became public on which Trump boasted that he could kiss women without being asked and grab them between the legs. That was considered the deathblow for his presidential candidacy – but the right-wing populist still won the election against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Further proceedings against Trump are ongoing
The mood in the US is heated in view of the legal prosecution of Trump. The 76-year-old is being investigated for a number of possible crimes. He himself describes the law enforcement authorities’ actions against him as a “witch hunt” intended to prevent his candidacy in 2024. Most recently, his polls in internal party polls had risen – Trump is well ahead of other possible Republican candidates.
A few weeks ago, Trump was criminally charged in another case in New York. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused him of trying to increase his chances in the 2016 presidential election by paying hush money to two women, thereby violating election laws. There are further investigations against him – for example because of his role in the storming of the US Capitol a few weeks before his democratic successor Joe Biden was sworn in as president.
