In this courtroom sketch, E. Gene Carroll, right, turns toward seated Donald Trump, left, on Tuesday in New York. credit: AP
He also made a series of posts on social media, claiming he was the victim of a “one-sided trial” and accusing the judge of being a “very abusive person.”
“He believes that with his wealth and power he can treat Ms. Carroll the way he wants and he will not suffer any consequences,” Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, told the jury.
Trump returned to the courtroom to hear his lawyer, Alina Haba, deliver her closing arguments. Haba suggested that Carroll welcomed the attention she received after her accusations were made public, and told the jury that it was not Trump's fault that Carroll faced backlash from his supporters on social media.
At rallies leading up to the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, Trump also consistently told supporters that Carroll was a “liar” and a “sick woman” whom he had never met and who was not his type.
But after deliberating for nearly three hours, the jury sided with Carroll, ordering Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages. This included $65 million in punitive damages, $7.3 million for emotional distress, and $11 million for reputational damages.
The discovery is another watershed moment for the #MeToo movement that began due to the sexual predation of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
While Trump is expected to appeal the ruling, it could affect his standing with an important group of voters he needs to beat Joe Biden in November: suburban women.
The ruling comes at a critical juncture in the electoral cycle, as Trump is on track to become the Republican Party's presidential nominee after his decisive victories in the states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
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However, his only remaining challenger, Nikki Haley, has vowed to keep fighting, starting with the next major GOP primary in her home state of South Carolina on February 24.
Trump has been accused of sexual harassment or assault by more than two dozen women since the 1970s, but the case against Carroll was the first time he was held accountable in civil court. The case was not criminal, meaning he has not been convicted of any crime and does not face prison time.
The current trial focuses on statements he made after Carroll first publicly accused him of raping her in 2019. New York magazine article, and has been attacked ever since, through posts on social media, on television and on the campaign trail.
His supporters have since claimed responsibility for many of those attacks, along with his denials. For example, at a rally in Iowa earlier this month, Trump made jokes about the trauma Carroll told the court she suffered.
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He also insisted that he would not have taken her to the changing room of a department store, where she claims the attack occurred, since he had his own apartment and other properties throughout Manhattan.
When asked about the Carroll case, Dick Green, an evangelical pastor and Trump supporter, told the Iowa Masthead that he believed the trial was part of a political witch hunt.
“If he wanted to have sex with a woman, he had a hotel or two nearby,” he said. “He could have taken someone there, but she claims he did it in the locker room? Are you kidding me?”
The latest case is one of many Trump faces as he seeks to return to office. Between this week and the South Carolina primary on February 24, Trump is also set to face a ruling in a civil fraud trial in New York, along with an appeals court decision on his claims that presidential immunity protects him from prosecution for election subversion.
