Shillong, July 20: Former US President Donald Trump’s attempt for a retrial in the E. Jean Carroll case has been unsuccessful. The jury had previously found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming the columnist, but the charge of rape was not upheld.
The case revolved around E. Jean Carroll’s accusations that Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room during the mid-1990s. Subsequently, Trump labeled the incident a hoax on his Truth Social platform in October 2022.
As per IANS, while the jury did find Trump guilty of battering the columnist, they did not find him guilty of rape. As a result, the former President has been ordered to pay $5 million in damages.
Trump’s attorneys argued for a new trial, contending that Carroll’s claim of rape was not proven, but the jury concluded that she was sexually abused during the Bergdorf Goodman incident in 1995/1996.
However, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the original trial, rejected Trump’s request for a new trial. He affirmed that the evidence presented during the trial demonstrated that Trump “raped” Carroll in the plain sense of the word, even though the jury did not formally declare him guilty of rape under the New York Penal Law.
Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, celebrated the ruling following the court’s decision.
