Donald Trump Sexually Abused Carroll – New York jury

Donald Trump sexually abused writer E Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defamed her by branding her a liar, a United States jury has decided, delivering a legal blow to the former US president as he seeks re-election in 2024.

The verdict was read out in a Manhattan federal court on Tuesday afternoon, just hours after jurors began deliberating following a seven-day civil trial.

Carroll had accused the former US president of sexually assaulting her in a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and then defaming her by dismissing her story – told in a 2019 memoir – as a “con job”.

The nine-member jury determined on Tuesday that the ex-president did not rape Carroll, but they did find him liable for sexual abuse and defamation, The New York Times, CNN and other US news outlets reported.

The jurors awarded the former Elle magazine columnist approximately $5m in compensatory and punitive damages. Because this was a civil case, Trump faces no criminal consequences.

His spokesman, Steven Cheung, said on Tuesday that the former president would appeal. That means he will not have to pay the awarded damages so long as the verdict is being challenged in court.