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For the second time, a civil jury of Donald Trump’s peers has ruled against him and in favor of E. Jean Carroll, to the tune of millions of dollars.
On Jan. 26, a federal jury in New York ordered Trump to pay Carroll more than $83 million in damages for defaming her. This followed a different New York jury awarding her more than $5 million in a verdict finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
Despite this initial verdict finding it more likely than not that Trump sexually abused Carroll (a different standard than beyond a reasonable doubt, as in a criminal case), Trump continued to verbally attack Carroll. The first jury rightfully repudiated him, and the second has done the same, in a big way. Trump has indicated that he will appeal.
“This is a great victory for every woman who stands up when she’s been knocked down, and a huge defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down,” Carroll said in a statement last week.
Hopefully this staggering level of financial damages highlights to the American people how vile and repeated Trump’s behavior has been — not in the eyes of political opponents or talking heads, but in the eyes of two unanimous juries of his fellow citizens. And hopefully people notice the self-serving irony in Trump’s grumbling after testifying last Thursday that “this is not America.”
It might not be the America that Trump is used to, where powerful people have been able to leverage money and connections to escape accountability. But this is the America that we should all want to live in — where there are consequences for people’s actions regardless of their last name or wealth. We should all want to live in an America where victims are empowered, where lies are repudiated and where the same rules apply equally to everyone.
America, little by little, has seen progress when it comes to better empowering victims of sexual assault. The enactment of New York’s Adult Survivors Act in 2022 allowed a one-year window suspending the statute of limitations so adult victims could sue over past alleged sexual assaults. If not for this law, Carroll would have been unable to bring her suit against Trump and seek the accountability she eventually won.
As we’ve said before, the trauma of sexual assault doesn’t have a statute of limitations — there isn’t a set timeline for how people process and heal. And there shouldn’t be a statute of limitations on the ability to seek justice.
Is this concept in conflict with the version of America that Trump pined for while leaving the courtroom? Perhaps. But it is a better America, a more compassionate America and a more just America.
