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.
Just a reminder that Trump is a convicted rapist, by definition of the word rape. Itās legally defined as sexual assault in NY.
Trump is a convicted rapist.
Not convicted, because it wasnāt a criminal trial. But the trial did determine it was a kind of sexual assault that, while not legally fitting the term rape in New York State, can colloquially be considered such. Which is why Carroll has every right to say he raped her.
How does the state of NY define it? But that seems like very clear cut rape to me.
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.
NY defines rape as penetration with a penis. Since he penetrated her with his fingers, it could only be considered sexual assault by NYās definition. Worth noting that she claimed he penetrated her with both, but could only prove in court that he penetrated her with his fingers.
This judge basically ruled that while he wasnāt found guilty of raping her based on NYās narrow definition, the colloquial use of the word rape is functionally what he did to her.
Wait. Really? Still? What backwards planet are we still living that one of the largest states has deemed that men canāt be raped by women?