New York: A jury found Donald Trump responsible for sexually harassing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996 on Tuesday, awarding her $5 million in a verdict that could follow the former president as he runs for reelection.

Jurors found Trump accountable for a less severe form of sexual assault, rejecting Carroll's claim that she was raped. However, the verdict deepens Trump's legal problems and grants Carroll, whose claims Trump had for years ridiculed and denied, justice.

A few hours after the jury selection process started, she nodded as the decision was read aloud in a federal courtroom in New York City. She then hugged her supporters and smiled through tears. Carroll could be heard laughing as the courtroom cleared.

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In addition, the jury determined that Trump had slandered Carroll after she made her claims public. Trump made the decision to skip the civil trial and was not present when the verdict was announced.

Trump reaffirmed his denial that he knows Carroll in a statement posted to his social media account shortly after the verdict was announced, calling it "a disgrace" and "a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time." He said he would appeal.

Following the announcement of the verdict, Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, and Trump's attorney, Joseph Tacopina, embraced. He told reporters outside the courthouse that it was "perplexing" for the jury to find Trump guilty of sexual assault despite finding him not guilty of the rape claim.

I must admit that a part of me was very pleased that Donald Trump was not accused of being a rapist," he said.

More than a dozen women, including Carroll, have accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment. She made her accusation that the Republican sexually assaulted her in an upscale Manhattan department store's dressing room public in 2019.

Trump, 76, denied it, claiming he was unaware of Carroll and had never met her in the store. She created "a fraudulent and false story" to sell a memoir, calling her a "nut job" in his words.

The 79-year-old Carroll demanded a retraction of what she claimed were Trump's false denials of her claims, as well as unspecified damages.

The controversial subject of Trump's treatment of women was brought up again during the trial.

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Carroll testified for several days in an open, occasionally tearful manner, supported by two friends who testified that she told them about the alleged attack the next day and in the moments after it happened.

The jury also heard testimony from Natasha Stoynoff, a writer, who claimed Trump forcibly kissed her while she was interviewing him for a 2005 article, and Jessica Leeds, a former stockbroker who claimed Trump suddenly groped her against her will on an aeroplane in the 1970s.

The well-known 2005 "Access Hollywood" hot mic recording of Trump discussing kissing and grabbing women without their consent was also played for the six-man, three-woman jury.

Unless a victim comes forward publicly, as Carroll, Leeds, and Stoynoff have done, The Associated Press typically does not name those who claim to have been sexually assaulted.

The decision is made as Trump is dealing with an increasing number of legal risks.
In New York, he is defending himself in a criminal case involving hush money payments to a porn actor. He, his family, and his company have all been sued by the state attorney general for alleged financial wrongdoing.

Trump is also dealing with inquiries from other sources into his alleged misuse of classified information, his actions following the 2020 election, and his participation in the January 6, 2021 uprising at the US Capitol. All of those allegations of wrongdoing by Trump are denied.

Carroll, a 27-year contributor to an Elle magazine advice column, has also written for other publications and "Saturday Night Live." At a 1987 party, she and Trump were in the same social circles, and their interactions with their then-spouses were captured on camera. Trump has claimed he can't recall it.

Carroll claims that she met Trump in a dressing room after they met at Bergdorf Goodman on an unknown Thursday night in the spring of 1996.

In order for him to look for a women's gift, they made an impromptu trip to the lingerie section. Soon, according to Carroll's testimony, they were making fun of each other for trying on a skimpy bodysuit. She thought it was funny, like her "Saturday Night Live" skit from 1986 about a man admiring himself in a mirror.

She claimed that as she attempted to flee, Trump yanked her tights down, slammed the door, pinned her against the wall, put his mouth on hers, and raped her. Carroll claimed that she ultimately kneeled on top of him and  immediately left the store.

She testified, her voice breaking, "I always think back to why I walked in there to get myself in that situation, but I'm proud to say I did get out.

Both she and her friends claim that she soon confided in two friends. However, she didn't report it to the police, tell anyone else, or record it in her diary until her memoir was released in 2019.

Carroll claimed that she remained silent out of concern for Trump's retaliation, shame, and a sense that other people covertly denigrate rape victims and view them as partially to blame for the attacks.

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Trump weighed in on the case while it was still in progress, calling it "a made up SCAM" in a social media post. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan deemed the remarks "entirely inappropriate" and issued a warning that the former president risked further legal trouble if he continued.

Tacopina narrated to the jury After hearing about a 2012 "Law and Order" episode in which a woman is raped in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store's lingerie department, Carroll made up her accusations.

Carroll "cannot produce any objective evidence to back up her claim because it didn't happen," he told the jury. He charged her with "advancing a false claim of rape for money, for political reasons, and for status."

He questioned Carroll in an effort to challenge her account of fending off the much heavier Trump in the lingerie department of the upscale retailer without dropping her handbag or ripping her tights, and without anyone nearby to hear or see them.

She was questioned by the attorney about why, in her own words, she did not scream, call for assistance as she ran from the store, or seek out medical attention, security footage, or the police. Carroll chastised the man. Whether or not she screamed, she continued, "I'm telling you he raped me.

Trump can't be charged with assaulting Carroll because the statute of limitations has long since expired.
She initially filed her civil case as a defamation lawsuit for similar reasons, claiming that Trump's defamatory denials had made her a target of hatred, destroyed her reputation, and hurt her career.
Then, starting in the autumn of last year, New York State gave people a chance to file legal claims for sexual assault that would have otherwise been too late. One of the first to file was Carroll.