Judge says New York jury found that Trump did RAPE E. Jean Carroll as ‘many people commonly understand the word’ as he rejects former president’s request for a new trial

A federal judge said Wednesday that a jury had found Donald Trump guilty of raping writer E. Jean Carroll in the normal sense of the word.

It comes after a jury in New York in May found Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming the writer and awarded her $5 million in damages.

Carroll, 79, accused Trump, 77, of raping her in a dressing room in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. He dismissed the accusation as a hoax.

His lawyers tried to argue that the damages were “excessive” because the jury felt he had not raped her.

But U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan rejected the argument, saying the jury was acting on a very narrow, legalistic definition of the term “rape.”

E. Jean Carroll (C) is seen here leaving a Manhattan federal courthouse in May after the jury found former President Donald J. Trump liable for sexually assaulting her

“The finding that Ms. Carroll has not been able to prove that she was ‘raped’ within the meaning of the New York Penal Code does not mean that she has not been able to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her, as many people commonly use the word ‘rape’. ‘ to understand. ‘ he wrote in a 59-page decision.

“Indeed, as the evidence at trial listed below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump did indeed do just that.”

His finding is the latest legal blow to Trump. He has been charged in two criminal cases since leaving office — involving a hush money payment to a porn star and his handling of classified documents — and revealed on Tuesday that he could soon face charges in a federal investigation into the 2020 election.

He has denied wrongdoing in all three and claims to be the victim of a political witch hunt.

Wednesday’s ruling leaves May’s verdicts and damages in effect.

“The unanimous verdict of the jury in Carroll II was almost entirely in favor of Mrs. Carroll,” Kaplan wrote.

“The only issue on which Ms. Carroll failed to prevail was whether she had proven that Mr. Trump had ‘raped’ her within the narrow, technical sense of a particular section of New York Penal Code — a section that stipulates that the label “rape” as used in criminal prosecutions in New York only applies to vaginal penetration by a penis,” Kaplan said.

Forced, unauthorized penetration of the vagina or other body orifices by fingers, other body parts, or other articles or materials is not called “rape” under New York Penal Code. Instead, it is labeled as ‘sexual abuse.’

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan rejected Trump’s lawyers’ argument, saying the jury was acting on a very narrow, legalistic definition of the term “rape.”

Kaplan’s ruling amounted to a debate over the definition of the term “rape”

He rejected the Trump team’s argument that he “touched her breasts through her clothing.”

“Instead, the evidence has been conclusively determined, and the jury implicitly determined, that Mr. Trump deliberately and forcibly penetrated Ms. Carroll’s vagina with his fingers, causing immediate pain and long-term emotional and psychological damage.

In a footnote, he added that the U.S. Attorney General introduced a broader definition of rape in 2012: “penetration, however minor, of the vagina or anus with any part or object, or oral penetration through a genital organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.’

Lawyers for Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, did not immediately comment after the judge’s ruling.

Carroll’s attorney welcomed the outcome.

“Now that the court has denied Trump’s request for a new trial or for the amount of the sentence to be reduced, E Jean Carroll looks forward to the $5 million in damages awarded to her by the jury,” said Robbie Kaplan, who did not family belongs to the judge.