District Judge Lewis Kaplan has said it multiple times: Donald Trump raped E. Jean Carroll in 1996. Kaplan wrote it in May 2023, when he presided over one of the trials against Trump. And he reminded jurors of the rape this week, during the latest proceedings in the multi-layered, winding rape and defamation cases brought against Trump by Carroll.
Rape has a statute of limitations. Even if he came forward and said flat out that he raped her, he can’t be charged criminally for it. He can be charged civilly though, which is why he keeps claiming it never happened.