Following the verdict, Trump released a statement on his self-founded social media platform Truth Social, calling the case a "witch hunt" and the verdict "utter nonsense. I don't agree with this decision in any way. This is not America."
Manhattan Federal Court ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages in a defamation lawsuit brought by journalist E. Jean Carroll.
In an article published in New York magazine in 2019, Carroll said that Trump raped her in 1996 in the dressing room of a luxury department store in Manhattan. The court awarded Carroll $5 million in damages in her sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against Trump.
In her testimony, Carroll said that Trump, whom she met at Bergdorf Goodman, asked her for help choosing a gift. She said she suggested a hat or a purse, but Trump was not interested in them and directed her to the lingerie department. Carroll said that Trump then showed her a one-piece dress and advised her to try it on, claiming that Trump also entered the dressing room.
In this case, Trump's claims that Carroll was lying and that she was a political agent became the subject of a new defamation lawsuit.
