Trump may suffer 'significant political damage' after Carroll verdict: legal experts

In an op-ed published at Just Security along with the site's co-editor-in-chief, legal expert Norman Eisen said that this Tuesday's jury verdict that "turned Donald Trump from an alleged sexual assaulter into a proven one" will inflict serious political damage on him "if recent history is any guide."

Eisen and Ryan Goodman cite recent "empirical studies" that show the public's reluctance to vote people into political power if they've committed sexual assault.

"In November 2017, 61% of voters – including 56% of men and a nontrivial margin of white men (50-43) and white women (55-37) – said then-President Trump should be impeached and removed from office if he were proven to have engaged in 'sexual harassment,' according to a Quinnipiac poll. That overall support – the eye popping number of 61% – was higher than any poll tracking public support for impeachment and removal from office for the scandalous conduct in Trump’s first and second impeachments," Eisen and Goodman write.

Other polls during Trump's presidency cited by Just Security show over half of respondents saying they thought Trump should have resigned in light of sexual assault allegations leveled against him.

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"These results are no surprise when taken in context of recent social science studies. Rigorous empirical research shows that Americans generally consider sexual assault incompatible with serving in elected office or positions of public trust," write Eisen and Goodman.

Read the full op-ed over at Just Security.