The former president of the United States declared to Fox News Digital that he will appeal the E. Jean Carroll case’s verdict despite having “absolutely no idea” who she is and calling it a “disgrace” and “a continuation of the greatest political witch hunt in history.”
Trump was found guilty for sexual abuse and defamation by a federal jury in New York City on Tuesday, but not for rape. A $5 million fine has been imposed on the former president.
Just after the jury announced its decision, Trump told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that had “absolutely no idea who this woman is.”
“This verdict is a disgrace,” he told Fox News Digital. “It is a continuation of the greatest political witch hunt in history.”
Trump told Fox News Digital that he “will appeal.”
“We’ll appeal. We got treated very badly by the Clinton-appointed judge,” Trump said. “And [Carroll] is a Clinton person too.”
He added: “I have no idea who this woman is.”
Carroll, 79, claimed that Trump sexually assaulted her in 1996 across from Trump Tower in Manhattan at the Bergdorf Goodman department store. Carroll claims that the two happened to cross paths in the store as Trump was looking for a present for “a girl.” She claimed that before pushing her into a dressing room and assaulting her, he had asked for her opinion and the two had gone shopping together. The claims made by Carroll are false, according to Trump and his legal team. In the former president’s initial response, Carroll was said to have been driven by a desire to sell copies of her book, according to Trump.
Carroll hit Trump with a defamation lawsuit after his denial, alleging that his reaction damaged her reputation.
Carroll filed a complaint, asking for punitive and compensatory damages as well as a declaration that Trump should take back his statement.
Joe Tacopina, Trump’s attorney, had argued to the jury during closing statements on Monday that Carroll’s account is improbable. He affirmed the assertion that she made it up to boost sales of her 2019 memoir and said that she did it in order to criticize Trump on the basis of politics.
“The facts in evidence made plain here that E. Jean Carroll’s story is not worthy of your belief, not even close,” Tacopina said. “Her story – and it’s just that, a story – is not true, she was not raped at Bergdorf Goodman’s. She was not defamed by being called out on making up that story.”
Despite being deposed in front of the camera in October, Trump did not testify during the trial.
