E Jean Carroll said she was “overwhelmed with joy for the women in this country” after a jury found Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York department store in 1996.
“I’m overwhelmed, overwhelmed with joy and happiness and delight for the women in this country,” the writer and former Elle magazine columnist told NBC’s Today a day after the verdict in the civil trial.
The New York jury of six men and three women found that Trump “sexually abused” Carroll, defined as subjecting her to sexual contact without consent by use of force, and for the purpose of sexual gratification.
Carroll told the jury Trump pinned her against a department store dressing room wall, pulled down her tights and forced his fingers into her vagina. But the jury did not find that Trump raped her – which required Carroll to prove he also inserted his penis.
The former president was also found to have defamed Carroll by denying the attack and calling her a liar. Trump was ordered to pay $5m in damages.
Carroll said: “I didn’t even hear the money. This is not about the money. This is about getting my name back, and that’s what we accomplished.”
The 79-year-old said her case had “demolished” the concept of the “perfect victim” in cases of rape and sexual assault, after Trump’s lawyer tried to discredit her claim by repeatedly questioning why she didn’t scream during the attack or report it to the police.
“Before yesterday there was a concept of the perfect victim,” Carroll said. “The perfect victim always screams, always reports to the police, always makes note when it happened, and then her life is supposed to … fold up and she’s never sort of supposed to be happy again.
“And yesterday we demolished that whole concept. It is gone. It is gone. And I am overwhelmed with happiness for the women of the country. It’s really not about me so much. It’s about every woman.”
Trump brushed off the verdict, using his Truth Social platform to call it a “scam” and “a political witch hunt” funded by “Democratic operatives”, thereby arguably repeating the libel for which he has been ordered to pay nearly $3m. His lawyer said he will appeal.
Trump also received some political support. The Republican senator Marco Rubio, from Florida, was one to dismiss the verdict.
“That jury’s a joke. The whole case is a joke,” he said.
Another Republican senator, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, said: “It makes me want to vote for him twice.”
But there was criticism from Mitt Romney, a senator from Utah, the 2012 Republican nominee for president and a vocal critic of Trump.
“The jury reached their decision and I hope the jury of the American people reach the same conclusion: we need a different nominee to be the nominee for president. He is in no position to be the president of the United States,” Romney said.
Trump was scheduled to take part in a CNN town hall with 400 Republican voters on Wednesday evening. Participants were expected to press Trump on how he intends to run for president while confronting legal threats in multiple states.
While Tuesday’s verdict was in a civil trial, the former president could face prison in other cases. In New York last month, he pleaded not guilty to 34 fraud charges over the payment of hush money to the porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election. It also looks likely Trump will face criminal charges over his attempts to falsify the result of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Trump is also the target of a federal investigation into his actions during the 2020 election and its aftermath, including inciting the storming of the Capitol, and the stashing of secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
For all that, he remains the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination with a large lead over his nearest rival, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis.
Trump chose not to give evidence at his sexual assault trial and his legal team did not call witnesses. All the jury saw of Trump was a deposition from late last year in which he appeared surly and combative.
Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said that performance, including an attempt to justify comments about kissing women and grabbing their genitals without consent, harmed Trump more than helped him.
“The jury saw on our side 11 witnesses who took this stand day after day including E Jean for more than two days, under oath and told the truth. On the other hand, [Trump] didn’t even bother to show up and in his deposition, he made admissions where he was basically a witness against himself,” Kaplan told NBC.
Carroll also discussed what she said to Joe Tacopina, Trump’s lawyer, at the end of the trial.
“He came over to congratulate me,” she said. “He put out his hand, and I said, ‘He did it and you know it.’ And then we shook hands and I passed by, so I got my chance to say it.”
Outside court, Tacopina said he was “in one sense gratified”, because Trump was not found to have raped Carroll.
“I know some people in [Trump’s] camp are very happy that the rape claim was rejected,” Tacopina said. “I’m not happy that he was found liable for anything.”
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html.
