E. Jean Carroll Says Her Win Against Trump Is a Win for All Women
E. Jean Carroll said she was “overwhelmed with joy and happiness” and described her legal victory over Donald Trump as a win for women across the United States in an interview on Today Wednesday, May 10.
On Tuesday, Trump was found liable for defamation and sexually abusing Carroll and determined the former president must pay Carroll $5 million. The jury did not find Trump liable for raping Carroll, as she has alleged he did.
“I am overwhelmed, overwhelmed with joy and happiness,” Carroll said. “And delight for the women in this country.” Later Carroll said she believed the victory would help eradicate the “perfect victim” concept.
“The perfect victim always screams, always reports to the police, always makes note when it happens,” Carroll explained. “And then the perfect victim’s life is supposed to fold up and she’s never, sort of, supposed to be happy again. And yesterday we demolished that old concept. It is gone. And I’m overwhelmed with happiness for the women in the country — it’s really not about me, so much. It’s about every woman.”
To that end, Carroll quipped that when the decision was read, she didn’t even clock at the time that she would be awarded $5 million in damages. “I didn’t even hear the money, this is not about the money,” she said. “This is about getting my name back, and that’s what we accomplished.”
Carroll first leveled her accusations against Trump in 2019, claiming he raped her in New York nearly 30 years ago. While Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women, dating back to the 1970s, yesterday’s decision marked the first time he has faced tangible consequences for his alleged sexual assaults. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has often claimed the charges against him are politically motivated.
In reacting to the Carroll decision on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!”
In response to Trump’s reaction, Carroll said, “Here is the astonishing thing about this win yesterday: Of all the cases that this man faces, all the legal quagmires — all the prosecutors, all the special counsels, all the investigators — and what happened yesterday was … one 79-year-old advice columnist beat Donald Trump in court.”
During the trial, Trump never appeared in the courtroom (though the jury was shown video of his deposition), which meant Carroll never had a chance to confront him. After the decision yesterday, however, she said she did speak with Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina: “He came over to congratulate me, put out his hand, and I said, ‘He did it, and you know it.’ And then we shook hands, and I passed by. So I got my chance to say it.”
Trump is expected to appeal the ruling, though Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, insisted she wasn’t sweating a second round. “I’ve rarely felt more confident about an appeal as I do about this one,” she said. “They have no legitimate arguments for appeal.”