The jury did not find that Trump raped Miss Carroll, but instead found that he sexually abused her overwhelmingly. The jury also went through a series of questions on the defamation claim that she had filed and ultimately found that he had defamed her. And eventually, when you added all up, awarded her $5 million in damages to compensate her for both the impact of the sexual abuse, as well as the harm to her reputation that was done by the defamatory statements on Truth Social. But how do you interpret that ultimate verdict? How do you make sense of it?
This episode contains detailed descriptions of sexual assault.
A jury in Manhattan has found former President Donald J. Trump legally liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll.
Ben Weiser, who covers the Manhattan federal courts for The Times, tells the story of how a nearly 30-year-old case reached this moment.
Guest: Benjamin Weiser, a correspondent for The New York Times covering the Manhattan federal courts.
Background reading:
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