Jury finds Donald Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll in civil case, awards her $5 million

(CNN) — A Manhattan federal jury found that Donald Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room in the spring of 1996 and awarded her $5 million for battery and defamation.

Carroll alleged Trump raped her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store and then defamed her when he denied her claim, said she wasn’t his type and suggested she made up the story to boost sales of her book. Trump denied all wrongdoing.

Carroll filed the lawsuit last November under the "New York State Adult Survivors Act," a state bill which opened a look-back window for sexual assault allegations like Carroll’s with long-expired statutes of limitation.

Trump did not attend the trial. Like any defendant in a civil case, he was not required to appear in court for trial or any proceedings and has a right not to testify in his own defense.

Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed the jury after the verdict and informed them they are now allowed to identify themselves publicly if they choose. However, the judge suggested they remain silent.

"My advice to you is not to identify yourselves. Not now and not for a long time," Kaplan said. "If you’re one who elects to speak to others and to identify yourselves to others, I direct you not to identify anyone else who sat on this jury. Each of you owes that to the other whatever you decided for yourself."

This story is breaking and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
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