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Donald Trump's first response after E Jean Carroll sex abuse verdict: ‘Disgrace’

Former US President Donald Trump slammed a New York jury that ruled he was liable for sexual abuse and defamation against a former magazine writer . Jean Carroll. Insisting that he continues to be a subject of a witch hunt, Donald Trump called the verdict a “disgrace”.

Former US President Donald Trump. (AP)

"This verdict is a disgrace -- a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time," the former US president, using all capital letters, posted on his Truth Social media platform.

"I have absolutely no idea who this woman is," he added in reference to E. Jean Carroll. The jury ordered Donald Trump to pay $5 million in damages to the former columnist. E. Jean Carroll accused Donald Trump of raping her in the dressing room of a Fifth Avenue department store in the 1990s and then defaming her by calling her a liar. He was found liable for sexual abuse rather than rape, the jury noted.

This marks the first verdict against Donald Trump personally in a string of legal cases that threaten his 2024 presidential campaign. Though, Donald Trump is not at the risk of imprisonment as the case is civil rather than criminal.

Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine has also hosted a daily talk show. In 2019, she alleged that Donald Trump raped her more than two decades earlier in a sixth-floor dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store on Fifth Avenue. The former president says he has never assaulted anyone.