A federal jury in New York has concluded that former US President Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed a writer and columnist E. Jean Carroll in a New York department store in the mid-1990s.
He was however not found not liable for raping Carroll in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman.
The jury also found Trump liable for defamation for calling the writer’s accusations “a hoax and a lie” and ordered him to pay Carroll $5m in damages.
The court the ruling would be the first time the ex-President has been found legally responsible for a sexual assault.
While the ruling may not make a dent in Mr Trump’s base within the Republican Party, where his supporters view the US legal system with scepticism and have stood by him through all manners of adversity, it could have a lasting sting.
