Donald Trump has just been found liable for sexual battery against journalist E. Jean Carroll. After a civil trial that lasted two weeks and under three hours of deliberation, the jury found Trump not liable for rape but liable for sexual abuse and defamation. They have ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million in compensatory damages.
In New York state, sexual battery is any sex act performed without one party’s consent, while rape is sexual intercourse performed under “forcible compulsion.” The slightly ambiguous verdict is oddly fitting for the E. Jean Carroll-Trump case, which has been in a confusing position from the beginning. In one sense, it’s deeply important. It’s the first time a former US president has been accused of rape in a court of law. It’s the other shoe finally dropping after the long wait that began in October 2016 with the arrival of the Access Hollywood tape, on which Trump can be heard bragging about “grabbing” unconsenting women “by the pussy,” because “when you’re a star, they let you do it.”
This trial speaks directly to one of the issues that made Trump such an upsetting presidential candidate to begin with: He was not only inexperienced, incompetent, and bigoted, but it also looked extremely likely that he was an unrepentant sexual predator. When Trump nevertheless claimed victory over the woman widely expected to become America’s first female president, despite the Access Hollywood tape and despite accusations of sexual misconduct coming from at least 26 women, the irony was vicious and heartbreaking. Carroll’s lawsuit presented one possible remedy. In that sense, this case is vital.
In another sense, next to Trump’s other legal problems and alleged crimes, the Carroll case can seem to pale a little. It doesn’t touch on any of the damage Trump did during his time in office. It’s in no way relevant to Trump’s blatant corruption, his lies, the malicious mess he made of the onset of the Covid…
Read the full article here
