Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of sexual assault. Resources are available here
E. Jean Carroll, a journalist and advice columnist who was once an IU student, won $5 million Tuesday in her defamation case against former president Donald Trump. The case stems from Trump’s comments calling Carroll a “hoax” and a “con job” after she published in New York Magazine that Trump allegedly raped her in the dressing room of a department store.
The jury, located in New York and composed of six men and three women, unanimously agreed Trump sexually abused and defamed Carroll. However, the jury determined there was not enough evidence that to find the former president guilty of rape.
The case is a civil trial, so Trump only has to pay Carroll and has not been criminally convicted. On Truth Social, Trump condemned the verdict.
"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.
A campaign spokesperson for Trump said he plans to appeal the decision. Trump chose not to testify in court at the advice of his lawyers, but the jury was able to see Trump’s taped deposition.
In her time at IU, Carroll won Miss Indiana University and Miss Cheerleader USA. But in the same New York Magazine article where she writes about Trump, Carroll reveals she was allegedly sexually assaulted by another student her freshman year at Indiana University. She writes that she escaped when the perpetrator let go of her wrists to open his knife. She never reported the assault.
