The jury in Donald Trump rape case begins deliberations

In a civil trial that has begun its jury deliberations, former president Donald Trump is accused of raping a columnist in a restroom and defaming her.

Tuesday at 11:50 a.m., the nine-person jury in federal court in Manhattan started deliberating on E Jean Carroll’s complaint against Trump.

Carroll alleges that in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the middle of the 1990s, Trump sexually abused her. Trump will either be held accountable or not by a jury of six men and three women.

If jurors find Trump liable, they will determine how much money the ex-president owes Carroll for the damages. Trump will not face jail time because it is not a criminal case.

‘I emphasize to you that this is a civil case for damages,’ US District Judge Lewis Kaplan told jurors. ‘It is not a criminal case.’