May 09, 2023 01:31 PM UTC

BREAKING: Trump Liable For $5 Million In Sexual Battery Case

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #2: We promised earlier today to update with local reactions, but from what we can see none of our local Republican talking heads, including “Ultra-MAGA” GOP chairman Dave Williams and Rep. Lauren Boebert, have said a word as of 7:30PM this evening.

That too is notable.

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UPDATE: We hit publish too soon! The total award in this case exceeds $5 million when all the aggravating factors are tallied. CNN originally reported the smaller figure.

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CNN with another round of horrendous legal news for ex-President Donald Trump, who was found liable in a New York civil court case moments ago for sexual battery and defamation of author E. Jean Carroll and ordered to pay up a cool $2 5 million:

A Manhattan federal jury found that Donald Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room in the spring of 1996.

The jury found him liable for battery in Carroll’s civil trial against him, based on that sexual assault claim.

Carroll also sued Trump for defamation related to a 2022 statement he made denying Carroll’s allegations.

Although Trump was found liable for sexual abuse, jurors did make a distinction between that offense and the crime of rape. We admit to not having followed the case closely enough to understand the difference in this case, but sexual battery is certainly bad enough to, well, be very bad. Safe to say, Trump is not a role model for the MAGA youth of America:

Clerk: Wonton disgard? Yes. $20,000. Defamation? Yes. Trump’s statement false? Yes. Actual malice? Yes. Injured? Yes. Amount: $1 million. Reputation repair program: $1.7 million.

— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) May 9, 2023

What happens next? Most likely years of appeals, denials…and if previous events serve as accurate predictors, Trump’s base will cling to him all the more. Trump famously declared on the campaign trail in 2016 that he could “shoot somebody on 5th Avenue” and not lose political support. So far, after two impeachments, an insurrection, and the first of what could be a host of criminal indictments, that’s proven correct. Each day, we suppose, is a new chance for Republicans to say enough is enough and start cutting into Trump’s prohibitive lead in the 2024 GOP primary polls. But it hasn’t happened yet.

We’ll update with local reactions and coverage when they appear.