"Donald Trump did it": E. Jean Carroll speaks out after jury finds former president liable for sexual abuse, defamation
Writer E. Jean Carroll told "CBS Mornings" on Wednesday that every blood vessel in her body "jumped up with a complete and utter joy" when a jury in New York found former President Donald Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation in a civil trial stemming from allegations he raped her in the 1990s.
"Donald Trump did it," she said. "Donald Trump did it. And all his saying, 'no, no, no,' is not true."
Carroll was awarded $5 million total in damages in the case, in which the former president was found liable for sexual abuse, but not rape.
Sexual abuse "is a very, very serious offense in New York," said Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan. "And it's not a little thing."
Carroll says Trump assaulted and raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. During the trial, Trump's defense team sought to pick apart Carroll's account of what happened, and what followed. An attorney for Trump, Joe Tacopina, had asked why she didn't scream when Trump was allegedly raping her or when she left the dressing room.
"Some women scream, some women don't," said Carroll. "It keeps women silent."
Carroll told "CBS Mornings" that before the verdict came in, "there was a concept of the perfect victim."
"The perfect victim always screams, and the perfect victim always goes to the police, and the perfect victim always writes it in their diary, and the perfect victim — after she's been raped — her life is supposed to fold up and she's not supposed to ever seek happiness or career success again," Carroll said. "And yesterday, they said, 'there's not such a thing as a perfect victim.'"
The jury, made up of six men and three women, deliberated for less than three hours. Kaplan said they were "shocked" the jury came back with a decision so quickly.
"I've never had a jury case get decided that quickly," Kaplan said on "CBS Mornings." "That's rocket speed for a jury. They must have known right away what they wanted to do. And we were all shocked by how quickly they came in."
While she didn't go into many details about the jury, Kaplan said they were "mostly working class people."
After the verdict, Trump posted on Truth Social: "I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE - A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!"
In two videos posted to his Truth Social account later Wednesday night, Trump called the verdict a "disgrace" and a "sham" and said that he and his legal team will be "appealing this decision."
Watch more of the "CBS Mornings" interview with E. Jean Carroll and her attorney Roberta Kaplan in the video above.
