A Manhattan federal jury has ordered former President Donald Trump to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $5 million for battery and defamation for sexually assaulting her in the spring of 1996.
As reported by NBC Palm Springs, Trump has denied allegations by Carroll that he raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room. He also said she wasn't his type and argued that she made up the story to increase her book sales.
Last November, Carroll filed the lawsuit against Trump under the "New York State Adult Survivors Act," a state bill that opened a look-back window into sexual allegations with long-expired statutes of limitations, such as in Carroll’s case.
Following the verdict, Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed the jury and told them they could now publicly identify themselves if they so choose. The judge, however, encouraged them to remain unidentified.
"My advice to you is not to identify yourselves. Not now and not for a long time," Kaplan said. "If you're one who elects to speak to others and to identify yourselves to others, I direct you not to identify anyone else who sat on this jury. Each of you owes that to the other whatever you decided for yourself."
Trump, who is currently running for president of the United States for the third time, has denied all wrongdoing and plans to appeal the decision, CNN reports.
"We'll be appealing this decision. It's a disgrace," the former president said in a video posted to his social media platform, Truth Social.
"Somehow we're going to have to fight this stuff," he added. "We cannot let our country go into this abyss. This is disgraceful."
As Christian Headlines previously reported, Trump became the first former sitting president to be indicted for criminal charges following allegations that he allegedly made hush money payments totaling $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep a 2006 affair a secret during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Related:
Trump Indictment Is Widely Criticized: 'It's Even Flimsier Than We Were Led to Believe'
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Pool
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
