A federal judge Monday dismissed former President Trumpā€™s 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 Yorkā€™s definition, but instead found him liable for sexual abuse.

Trump then claimed Carrollā€™s insistence on CNN amounted to defamation, filing a counterclaim in Carrollā€™s other lawsuit that has not yet gone to trial.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Monday dismissed Trumpā€™s argument, ruling Carrollā€™s statement on the cable network was substantially true and that ā€œ[t]here would have been no different effect on the mind of an average listener.ā€

ā€œThe difference between Ms. Carrollā€™s allegedly defamatory statements ā€” that Mr. Trump ā€˜rapedā€™ her as defined in the New York Penal Law ā€” and the ā€˜truthā€™ 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 Trumpā€™s defense that he has ā€œabsolute presidential immunityā€ in the case.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Without going into the sordid details, Carroll couldnā€™t 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 ā€˜sexual abuse.ā€™ Itā€™s really a technical thing. Most people would consider him using his finger to be rape too, I would wager.

    • Whirlybird
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      1 year ago

      Most people would consider him using his finger to be rape too, I would wager.

      Iā€™d hope so, because it is.