A court in New York announced that Donald Trump sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll in the dressing room of a store in New York, 27 years ago.
The decision, for the first time, legally qualifies a former US president as a "sexual predator". The trial dismissed the rape allegation but found him liable for sexual abuse.
Given the fact that the decision is the result of a civil case and not a criminal one, the only legal sanction that Trump will face is the financial one.
A sexual predator is an individual who sexually exploits someone in an abusive or domineering manner. This sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior may not be directly related to sex for them, but it is a way of exerting control over others.
The court said Trump subjected E. Jean Carrol to non-consensual sexual contact through the use of force for the purpose of sexual gratification. She will receive about $5 million in damages: about $2 million for the sexual abuse allegation and nearly $3 million for defamation, for labeling Trump a liar.
Carroll is one of more than a dozen women who have accused Donald Trump of sexual assault or harassment. She spoke publicly in 2019 alleging that the Republican raped her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store.
Trump chose not to attend the trial and was absent when the verdict was read. It later referred to the verdict as "a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time."
The decision is sure to hit the Trump campaign, which is trying to retake the White House in the next US presidential election.
