American Voters Won’t Focus on Verdict Against Trump in E. Jean Carroll Lawsuit: Pence

GOP’s 2024 candidates split on the verdict

Former Vice President Mike Pence meets with guests at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition in Clive, Iowa, on April 22, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Americans won’t be distracted by Tuesday’s verdict that former President Donald Trump was found liable for battery and defamation charges in the E. Jean Carroll trial.

“It’s just one more instance where—at a time when American families are struggling, when our economy is hurting, when the world seems to become a more dangerous place, almost every day—[there’s] just one more story focusing on my former running mate that I know is a great fascination to members of the national media, but I just don’t think is where the American people are focused,” Pence told NBC News on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, a Manhattan grand jury ruled against Trump on one count of defamation and one count of battery in a civil case launched against him by Carroll, an advice columnist.

The jury rejected Carroll’s allegations that she was raped but found that Trump should pay a total of about $5 million in damages to Carroll, including about $3 million for the defamation charge and about $2 million for the civil battery charge.

When asked whether Trump would be fit to serve as president after the jury’s verdict, Pence, a potential 2024 contender, said “I think that’s a question for the American people.”

“I’m sure the president will defend himself in that matter.”

But Pence, who once presented a united front with Trump during their time in office, subtly defended his former boss.

“I would tell you, in my 4.5 years serving alongside the president, I never heard or witnessed behavior of that nature,” he said.

Tuesday’s verdict came after an almost-two-week trial that Caroll, 79, claims Trump, 76, raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in  Manhattan in 1995 or 1996.

Trump denied Carroll’s allegations in 2019, saying that “she’s not my type.” Citing these words, Carroll filed a lawsuit accusing Trump of defaming her in the same year. That lawsuit bounced around state, federal, and appellate courts in New York and Washington, without material consequences.

In 2022, the New York state legislature passed the Adult Survivor Act, which amended state law to give victims of certain sexual offenses a one-year window, beginning on Nov. 24, 2023, to file a civil lawsuit against alleged offenders. Carroll filed a second lawsuit on Nov. 24, 2022, under this Act, which went to trial and resulted in the latest verdict.

Trump has, until the present day, denied all of Carroll’s allegations.

“I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. This verdict is a disgrace–a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time!” Trump said in response to the news of the verdict.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson speaks at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition stage backdrop in Clive, Iowa, on April 22, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Divided Responses

Some 2024 Republican presidential contenders also reacted to the verdict in Carroll’s civil lawsuit.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who launched his White House campaign last month, blasted Trump in the statement after Tuesday’s news of the verdict.

“Over the course of my over 25 years of experience in the courtroom, I have seen firsthand how a cavalier and arrogant contempt for the rule of law can backfire,“ Hutchinson told The Epoch Times. ”The jury verdict should be treated with seriousness and is another example of the indefensible behavior of Donald Trump.”

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition in Clive, Iowa, on April 22, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Vivek Ramaswamy, a 37-year-old biotech entrepreneur who has formally announced his White House bid, said the results could be different if the defendant were not Trump.

“I wasn’t one of the jurors, and I’m not privy to all of the facts they have, but I’ll say what everyone else is privately thinking: If the defendant weren’t named Donald Trump, would there even be a lawsuit?” Ramaswamy wrote in a statement posted on Twitter by NBC News reporter Allan Smith.

“Based on the sheer timing of the allegations–that the alleged assault occurred in the mid-1990s and Ms. Carroll did not sue until 2019 and later in 2022, far beyond the statute of limitations, and in the middle of a spate of legal charges for other ancient allegations, it seems this is part of the establishment system’s anaphylactic response against its chief political allergen, Donald Trump.”

“Believe me, it would be a lot easier for me if Trump weren’t in this race,“ he continued. ”But in America, we don’t weaponize the law with decades-old allegations to undercut our political opponents.”

“I want to win this race by showing voters how I will take the America First movement beyond Trump, and I look forward to facing him on the debate stage.”

Gary Bai contributed to this report.