Donald Trump Found Liable for Sexually Abusing E. Jean Carroll

Former (and possibly future) President Donald Trump has been found liable for sexual assault in a civil court. The jury also found him liable for defamation.

Trump did not testify in the trial, which was held in Manhattan. Writer E. Jean Carroll alleged that the politician raped her in a dressing room in 1996, and that he further defamed her in a social media post last year. This was a civil trial, not a criminal one, and resulted in the awarding of damages, not prison time. The standards the jury were asked to reach is different as well. Per CNN:

To prove her defamation claim, the jury must find that Carroll’s legal team proved by the preponderance of the evidence that Trump knew it was false when he published the statement about Carroll last year and knowingly exposed her to public ridicule. They must also determine that she proved by clear and convincing evidence that the statement was false, and that Trump made the statement with actual malice. Both the preponderance of the evidence standard and the clear and convincing evidence standard are not as high a standard as proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is used in criminal cases. Clear and convincing evidence is higher than preponderance of the evidence, which means more likely than not. Clear and convincing evidence leaves no substantial doubt in the juror’s mind and establishes that the proposition is highly probable.

In this case, the jury—three women and six men—deliberated for two and a half hours before reaching their verdicts. Trump is liable for defamation and has been instructed to pay $3 million dollars to Carroll. He is also liable for battery, and should pay an additional $2 million. On the question of the act itself, the jurors had options: rape, sexual abuse, or forcible touching, per Reuters. The jury found him liable for sexual abuse.

In addition to their client’s declining to testify, Trump’s lawyers presented no defense at all, betting on society’s history of simply not believing women (Carroll did testify).