Elizabeth Jean Carroll, an American journalist and author best known for her Ask E. Jean column in Elle magazine from 1993 to 2019, charged Les Moonves and Donald Trump of sexual assault in the mid-1990s in her 2019 book. Carroll stated in a New York magazine article that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City in late 1995 or early 1996. On May 9, 2023, a jury found Trump liable for defamation and sexual abuse against Carroll, awarding her $5 million in damages.