- E. Jean Carroll is a writer, known for her advice column in ‘Elle.’
- She sued former President Donald Trump, after accusing him of rape.
- She brought Trump to trial on defamation and civil battery on April 25, 2023, and jury found him liable on May 9, 2023.
Victory is E. Jean Carroll’s! On May 9th, the civil lawsuit against former President Donald Trump finally had a verdict, with the jury finding the Mr. Trump liable for battery and defamation. The jury awarded Carroll a total of $5 million in the lawsuit: $2 million for the battery charge and $3 million for the defamation charge.
“I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear my name and to get my life back,” Carroll said in a statement after the verdict was revealed. “Today, the world finally knows the truth. This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed.” Her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, also issued a statement on May 9. “No one is above the law, not even a former President of the United States. We are so thrilled that the jury agreed,” Kaplan said, per NBC News.
The advice columnist and famed journalist, 79, sued the former president, 76, using New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which allowed sexual assault allegations that have passed the statute of limitations to be re-examined, per The Washington Post. On Wednesday, Carroll took the stand and said, “I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen,” per the outlet. She added, “He lied and shattered my reputation and I’m here to try to get my life back.”
Carroll first came forward accusing Trump of sexual assault in July 2019 in a New York Magazine cover story. The writer alleged that Trump raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in either late 1995 or early 1996. She first brought a lawsuit against him in November of that year.
Trump has denied Carroll’s claims, and his denial became part of the lawsuit, with the writer claiming that his statements are defamatory.”E. Jean Carroll is not telling the truth, is a woman who I had nothing to do with, didn’t know, and would have no interest in knowing her if I ever had the chance. Now all I have to do is go through years more of legal nonsense in order to clear my name of her and her lawyer’s phony attacks on me,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The former president doubled down on his claim of innocence after the verdict was read in a post on his Truth Social platform. “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME,’ he wrote. Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, confirmed a move to appeal is coming while speaking to reporters after the trial.
Carroll first shared her story in 2019 when she posed on the cover of New York Magazine, accompanied by a bold statement: “This is what I was wearing 23 years ago when Donald Trump attacked me in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room.” Pulling an excerpt from her then-upcoming book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal, the magazine published Carroll’s account of her run-in with the then-president at a Bergdorf Goodman store that allegedly ended in sexual assault more than two decades ago. Carroll claimed that Trump needed help picking out lingerie as a present, which eventually led the real estate tycoon to suggest that the writer try on a lace bodysuit. Carroll joked that Trump should try on the piece instead, and they later entered a dressing room together.
The story took a sharp turn once inside the dressing room, as the columnist accused Trump of shoving her against a wall, pulling down her tights and “forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway — or completely, I’m not certain — inside me.” While a senior White House official denied these allegations at the time, blaming the story on an attempt “to make the President look bad,” the excerpt’s prose is reflective of a veteran writer.
When Carroll first filed her defamation lawsuit in November 2019, she spoke about how she was seeking justice. “I am filing this lawsuit for every woman who’s been pinched, prodded, cornered, felt-up, pushed against a wall, grabbed, groped, assaulted, and has spoken up only to be shamed, demeaned, disgraced, passed over for promotions, fired and forgotten,” she said at the time. Find out everything you need to know about E. Jean Carroll here.
1. Carroll is renowned for her ‘Ask E. Jean Column’
Elle magazine has run the column since 1993! The successful column paved the way for a television show, Ask E, which aired between 1994 and 1996. Amid her battle with Trump, she was fired from Elle in February 2020. “Because Trump ridiculed my reputation, laughed at my looks, & dragged me through the mud, after 26 years, ELLE fired me. I don’t blame Elle. It was the great honor of my life writing ‘Ask E. Jean.’ I blame @realdonaldtrump,” she tweeted.
2. Caroll is an accomplished journalist
She boasts many bylines in publications like Playboy, Esquire, and Outside — and Carroll still found time to author five books. In addition to her upcoming book (to be released on July 2), Carroll wrote the following works: Female Difficulties: Sorority Sisters, Rodeo Queens, Frigid Women, Smut Stars, and Other Modern Girls, A Dog in Heat Is a Hot Dog and Other Rules to Live By, Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson and Mr. Right, Right Now.
3. She wrote for ‘Saturday Night Live’
Carroll joined the late-night comedic sketch show’s writing team between 1986 and 1987. She received an Emmy nomination in 1987 for her work on the comedy institution.
4. Caroll accused Les Moonves of alleged assault also
Besides Trump, Carroll accused former CBS chief Les Moonves (who was the president of CBS Entertainment at the time) of attempting to grope her in an elevator, after she interviewed him for an Esquire profile in the late ’90s. Moonves “emphatically” denied this.
5. She was crowned Miss Cheerleader USA
Carroll was a cheerleader at Indiana University, and represented her school while competing for the prestigious title back in 1964.