The former president of the United States donald trump He was found guilty this Tuesday of “sexual assault” and libel, but not rape, in the case that stemmed from the complaints of writer E. Jean Carroll.

This is evident from the verdict that the New York jury that heard his case has pronounced today in record time.

Carroll accused Trump of raping her in the fitting room of a New York department store in the mid-1990s, as well as defaming her when she decided to make her complaint public in a book she published in 2019.

Almost immediately, the former US president described the punishment that holds him responsible for assault as “shame”.

“I have absolutely no idea who this woman is,” an irate Trump said after hearing the jury’s verdict. He said it is a “continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time”.

A key moment in the process

Trump mistook prosecutor Jean Carroll for his ex-wife Marla Maples after defending Carroll was “not his type.”

Trump’s statement that he did not know Carroll’s identity came after he failed to properly identify her at what may have been a key moment in the process. During his videotaped statement, Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, had Trump look at a black-and-white photo to identify the group, which included himself.

Writer E. Jean Carroll leaves a Manhattan courthouse after a jury finds former President Donald Trump responsible for sexually assaulting her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. Photo: — SPENCER PLATT

When asked to identify a woman in the photo, Trump replied, “That’s Marla, that’s my wife.” That prompted Roberta Kaplan to interject: “You mean Marla is in this picture? ‘That’s Marla, yes. That’s it, that’s my wife. Trump has previously said he didn’t know who Carroll is, and he may have thought this spoke for his belief that she was making false accusations against him.

But the exchange undermined the certainty of Trump’s memory regarding the era while weakening his claim that his accuser was not “my type.” Kaplan later told him, “I take it the three women you married are totally your type?” “Yes,” Trump replied.

Jury dismisses rape

The jury awarded the writer $5 million.

The nine jurors, six men and three women, found Trump responsible for sexual assault and libel, although they denied raping her, several media outlets reported.

Carroll, 79, was charged with assault under the Adult Survivors Act, a law passed in New York that allowed a one-year period for claims of sexual assault that would normally fall outside the statute of limitations.

Her defamation claim was based on statements the 76-year-old Trump made when he was president and posted on Truth Social, his own social network, calling her a liar. For two weeks, the jury heard emotional testimony from three prosecutors and two of Carroll’s friends, among others, while Trump himself did not appear.