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A federal judge Monday dismissed former President Trumpās claim that E. Jean Carroll defamed him in May after a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing the writer.
The day after the verdict, Carroll appeared on CNN and indicated Trump had raped her. The jury had not found Trump liable for rape under New Yorkās definition, but instead found him liable for sexual abuse.
Trump then claimed Carrollās insistence on CNN amounted to defamation, filing a counterclaim in Carrollās other lawsuit that has not yet gone to trial.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Monday dismissed Trumpās argument, ruling Carrollās statement on the cable network was substantially true and that ā[t]here would have been no different effect on the mind of an average listener.ā
āThe difference between Ms. Carrollās allegedly defamatory statements ā that Mr. Trump ārapedā her as defined in the New York Penal Law ā and the ātruthā ā that Mr. Trump forcibly digitally penetrated Ms. Carroll ā is minimal. Both are felonious sex crimes,ā Kaplan ruled.
Kaplan, a Clinton appointee, separately rejected Trumpās defense that he has āabsolute presidential immunityā in the case.
Without going into the sordid details, Carroll couldnāt prove whether Trump used his penis or his finger (although she claims both), and it has to be a penis in New York Law for it to be rape. So it went to the lesser verdict of āsexual abuse.ā Itās really a technical thing. Most people would consider him using his finger to be rape too, I would wager.
Iād hope so, because it is.