Donald Trump found liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll

A jury has found that former President Donald Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll decades ago and then defamed her by denying it. It took just a little over three hours for the jury to come to a conclusion, which prompted legal experts to speculate it meant the jury agreed Trump was guilty. While the jury said that he didn't "rape" her, they said she was sexually assaulted and awarded her $2 million.

"Man talk about lightning speed," said former federal prosecutor Harry Litman. "Verdict at three. Must mean Caroll wins. An absolute overwhelming repudiation of Trump."

The jurors began deliberating Tuesday after a civil trial in Manhattan Federal Court that had lasted seven days. Carroll, 79, accused Trump of raping her in a dressing room in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-'90s.

She claimed he then defamed her in an October 2022 Truth Social post in which he called her allegations a "complete con job" and "a Hoax and a lie."

The verdict came in Tuesday afternoon. As it was a civil trial, the jury had to reach a unanimous verdict.

Carroll is seeking unspecified damages, An expert witness told the jury a PR campaign to repair her reputation after the defamation would cost up to an estimated $2.7 million, ABC News explained last week.

Among the evidence presented to the jury was a recorded deposition in which Trump argued that sexual assault by famous people happens all the time.

"Historically, that's true with stars ... well, it's, if you look over the past million years, that's been largely true. Not always, but that has been largely true," Trump said when asked about his infamous "grab 'em by the p---" "Access Hollywood" tape in which he said, "when you're a star, you can do anything."

He was then asked if he considers himself to be a star, and agreed he was.

Legal experts that were in the courtroom described total silence in the courtroom as the jurors watched the video.

"You could hear a pin drop," said Lisa Rubin, MSNBC's legal analyst.

The video of the deposition was so "damaging," according to some legal experts, that it may have been what blew the case for him.

The jury also heard from two other women who claimed Trump sexually assaulted them in separate attacks decades ago.

Trump denied all the allegations against him. He has said that if he were found complicit by the court, he would appeal.

Trump was also targeted by Jean's lawyers for posts on his personal social media account during the trial, asking the judge to tell Trump to take them down. There were multiple incidents in which Trump posted attacks on Carroll online and was reprimanded by the judge, who asked his lawyer to step in and tell Trump to stop.

The judge gave the jury a verdict form that was four pages long, asking questions like "Mr. Trump raped Carroll" or whether he "sexually assaulted Carroll," or "forcibly touched Carroll." If they answered yes, they were asked whether she was "injured" due to his conduct. If they believed she was injured, they were told to insert a dollar amount.

Another question was: "Mr. Trump's conduct was willfully or wantonly negligent, reckless, or done with a conscious disregard of the rights of Ms. Carroll, or was so reckless as to amount to such disregard?"

It also asked: "Did Carroll prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that, 'Mr. Trump's statement was defamatory?'"