The jury found former US President Donald Trump guilty at the suit of the writer and publicist Jean Carroll. The case was heard in Manhattan Federal Court in New York.
Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages for sexually harassing her in the 1990s and slandering her in 2022. Then the former president wrote a post on his Truth Social network in which he denied the allegations against himself.
At the same time, the jury dropped him from the charge of raping the writer, which allegedly took place in the early 1990s in the fitting room of the New York store Bergdorf Goodman.
This is the first case in which Trump was found guilty of sexual harassment. The defendant himself was not present at the trial, which lasted two weeks. Since the lawsuit was civil, Trump does not face criminal penalties.
The case began in April 2023, although Carroll voiced allegations of rape against the then-incumbent US president in 2019. In addition to her, Trump is accused of rape and harassment by several other women. The case of the writer was the first on which a verdict was issued.
In addition, Donald Trump faces criminal charges for falsifying business records ahead of the 2016 presidential election. That doesn't stop him from being the most likely Republican presidential candidate in the 2024 election.