The claim: Trump is now required to register as a sex offender
A May 10 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows the front page of the May 10 New York Daily News newspaper. The headline of the paper reads, “CAROLL JURY FINDS TRUMP IS A…SEX ABUSER.”
The post’s caption reads, “Under the Law, Trump is Required to Register, as a Sex Offender, in the Local Area that He resides in!”
A May 9 tweet with a similar claim generated 30,000 likes in less than two weeks.
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Our rating: False
Former President Donald Trump is not required to register as a sex offender as a result of being found liable in a civil trial, according to legal experts. Only people convicted of a sex offense, such as rape or incest, in a criminal case must register as a sex offender under New York state law.
Civil case doesn’t prompt sex offender requirement
On May 9, a New York federal jury found Trump liable in a civil case for sexually abusing former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in 1996 and for defaming her, as USA TODAY reported. Trump was ordered to pay $5 million in damages.
But contrary to the post’s claim, Trump is not required to register as a sex offender under the law, according to Julie Rendelman, a New York criminal defense lawyer.
The New York Division of Criminal Justice Services says anyone who was on parole or probation for a sex offense, or was incarcerated for a sex offense on Jan. 21, 1996, must register as a sex offender. In addition, anyone who was convicted of a sex offense on or after that date must register as a sex offender when they return to the community. Some of the sex offenses included under the law are rape, sodomy and incest, Rendelman said.
Trump was found liable in a civil trial, so the sex offender registry requirement doesn’t apply to him, according to Rendelman. Liability means a party is held “legally responsible for something,” whereas conviction means a criminal defendant was found guilty of a charged offense, according to the Cornell Legal Information Institute.
Fact check: Photos showing Trump arrested by law enforcement are computer-generated
This distinction matters for several reasons, according to Maggie Gardner, a law professor at Cornell University.
“A criminal conviction means the government prosecuted you and proved your culpability beyond a reasonable doubt – that’s a much higher standard than the one typically used in civil juries, which is by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning the jury found it more likely than not that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll,” Gardner said.
Gardner said there are more constitutional protections for criminal defendants that, among other things, limit what sort of evidence can be shown to the jury, so a criminal conviction is harder to obtain.
“To be clear, this isn’t to say that the Carroll jury would not have found Trump liable ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ − they simply weren’t asked to make that determination,” Gardner said. “But being forced to register as a sex offender carries a lot of restrictions on your personal liberty and private life, so it makes sense that it follows only from a criminal conviction with its higher standard of proof, involvement of the government and protections of constitutional rights that apply to criminal trials.”
USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the claim for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
PolitiFact also debunked this claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- David Weinstein, May 11, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- Julie Rendelman, May 11, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- Maggie Gardner, May 15, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- USA TODAY, May 9, Jury finds Donald Trump liable in civil sex abuse case of E. Jean Carroll
- New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, accessed May 15, Frequently Asked Questions: New York State’s Sex Offender Registry
- Cornell Legal Information Institute, Conviction
- Cornell Legal Information Institute, Liability
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