Has Donald Trump ever been criminally charged for sexual assault or rape?

1. Why the Carroll decisions matter — civil liability, not criminal prosecution

The E. Jean Carroll lawsuits produced jury findings that Donald Trump was liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll and resulted in major damage awards that appellate courts have largely upheld, culminating in rulings affirming sums in the tens of millions of dollars. These rulings establish civil responsibility and punitive damages for statements and conduct the juries found to be malicious, but civil liability does not equal a criminal charge or conviction. The analyses repeatedly distinguish that the Carroll matters were pursued in civil court, with verdicts and appeals addressing defamation and emotional-harm damages rather than criminal statutes or criminal procedure ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

2. What the New York criminal case was actually about — falsifying business records, not sexual assault

The New York criminal proceedings described in the materials resulted in an unprecedented felony conviction for Donald Trump on counts of falsifying business records tied to a hush-money payment, with a trial, guilty verdict on all counts, and sentencing consequences noted. That criminal case involved alleged campaign-related payments and business-records statutes, not charges of sexual assault or rape; thus it does not indicate a criminal rape or sexual-assault prosecution. The factual summaries emphasize witnesses, payments, and accounting—elements central to the financial-crime indictment rather than allegations of sexual violence ^{[4] [5]}.

3. How legal standards and remedies differ — civil proofs, punitive awards, and impeachment of reputation

Civil trials use lower burdens of proof—preponderance of evidence—allowing juries to find liability and award compensatory and punitive damages for harm like reputational damage and emotional suffering; the Carroll outcomes reflect that civil standard and the appellate court’s conclusion that Trump’s statements were defamatory and malicious, justifying significant punitive awards. By contrast, criminal charges require proof beyond a reasonable doubt and are pursued by prosecutors under penal statutes; none of the cited materials report prosecutors bringing such criminal sexual-assault charges against Trump in relation to Carroll or other accusers ^{[1] [6]}.

4. Competing narratives and legal strategy — appeals, denials, and differing characterizations

Trump’s legal teams have consistently denied allegations and framed civil findings as politically motivated or legally erroneous, while plaintiffs and some juries have characterized his conduct as abusive and defamatory; this produces sharply different public narratives: one side emphasizes wrongful, politically driven litigation, the other underscores accountability through civil judgment. The documents show appeals and ongoing litigation strategies seeking to overturn or limit damages, and they reflect friction between public messaging and legal determinations, with appellate courts weighing presidential-immunity claims and the nature of damages awarded in civil suits ^{[1] [6]}.

5. The bottom line for the original question — criminally charged for sexual assault or rape?

Summing the provided analyses: multiple civil rulings have found Donald Trump civilly liable for sexual abuse and defamation in at least one high-profile case, and he has faced and been convicted in unrelated criminal proceedings tied to business records and hush-money payments, but the materials give no evidence that he has been criminally charged with sexual assault or rape; the legal actions addressing sexual-misconduct allegations have been civil, not criminal. That distinction is the consistent throughline across the supplied items and is critical to correctly characterizing his legal exposure on sexual-assault allegations ^[7].