The jurors who found that former President Donald Trump had sexually assaulted author E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s have been advised to remain anonymous “for a long time.”
On Tuesday (May 9), CNN was the first to report that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan told the jurors that although they could identify themselves if they wanted after being dismissed, his advice was not to do that.
Kaplan had previously ordered an anonymous jury for the trial, saying jurors needed to be protected from harassment.
However, when the trial ended Tuesday with the $5 million in damages awarded to Carroll, Kaplan shared his “advice” with jurors not to identify themselves, “Not now and not for a long time.”
He added that those who choose to speak to others and reveal their identity do not identify “anyone else who sat on this jury,” saying that each of the nine-person jury “owes that to the other,” regardless of their decision about remaining anonymous.
Kaplan cited the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and Trump’s various statements targeting jurors and other officials involved in the case as the reason he chose to order an anonymous jury.
Shortly after the jury found Trump guilty of sexual assault and defaming Carroll but denied the rape allegations against him, Trump said he planned to appeal the case, telling Fox News Digital that “We will appeal” and suggesting he had been ‘treated very badly” by a judge appointed by former President Bill Clinton.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump also asserted that he didn’t know Carroll, writing in all caps, “I have no idea who this woman is.”
