I don't believe Dell or alwaysrite are intentionally lying. I do believe they are catergorized simply as very ignorant persons.
Did the judge in the E. Jean Carrol suit equate the finding of liability for sexual battery to rape?
Yes. In the
E. Jean Carroll civil case, Judge
Lewis A. Kaplan explicitly stated that the jury’s finding of
liability for sexual abuse (civil battery) was, in ordinary language, equivalent to
rape.
Here’s the distinction he made:
- The jury did not find Trump liable for “rape” under New York’s narrow statutory definition, which required forcible penile penetration.
- However, Judge Kaplan later clarified in a written opinion that the jury’s finding “clearly establishes that Mr. Trump raped Ms. Carroll as that term is commonly understood.”
So, while the
legal label was “sexual abuse” (a form of civil battery), the
judge equated it to rape in the everyday sense — emphasizing that the verdict proved a violent sexual act even if it didn’t meet the statute’s technical wording.
In
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan’s February 2024 opinion denying Donald Trump’s post‑trial motions, he wrote that the jury’s verdict
“clearly establishes that Mr. Trump raped Ms. Carroll as that term is commonly understood.”
That line appears in
E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump,
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, Case No. 22‑cv‑10016 (LAK) — specifically in the
Memorandum and Order dated February 9, 2024.
You can verify it directly in the court’s docket or in coverage by
The New York Times and
Reuters, both of which quoted Kaplan’s statement verbatim.