Carroll’s entire 27-year-old story was implausible, in my opinion. But a verdict in her favor was almost a foregone conclusion, given that Trump did not appear to testify on his own behalf. His deposition was taken during the case’s discovery phase, and some or all of it was played for the jury. I can only assume that Trump expected he would lose whether he testified or not, so he was better served, politically, to shun the proceeding and implicitly decline to accept its authority.

Will the verdict have any political impact? Some, I think. A jury finding is relatively credible, compared with merely being smeared by the press. And in many eyes, Trump’s checkered history will make plausible the jury’s finding that he sexually “abused” Carroll. The lawsuit was, in fact, a put-up job, encouraged and financed by anti-Trump activists. Nevertheless, the jury at least partially believed Jean Carroll, and that fact adds, not insignificantly, to the baggage that Trump carries as he seeks his party’s presidential nomination.