A federal appellate court upheld writer E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million legal judgment against President-elect Donald Trump.
Last year, a jury awarded Carroll the money after finding Trump accountable for sexually abusing her in the 1990s and then defaming her after she made her allegations public.
Trump has rejected the claims and filed an appeal, claiming that the verdict was “grossly excessive” and should be overturned due to unjust rulings by the judge who presided over the nine-day trial.
A panel from the Second United States Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.
“We conclude that Mr. Trump has not shown that the district court erred in any of the challenged decisions. Furthermore, he has not met his burden of demonstrating that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors damaged his substantive rights, which is required to warrant a new trial, according to the judges’ conclusion.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the president, responded to the judge’s decision: “The American People have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed.”
Carroll attorney Roberta Kaplan said in a statement that she and her client “are pleased with today’s decision.” We appreciate the Second Circuit’s careful assessment of the parties’ arguments.
Carroll later shared a link to a news report about the ruling on Facebook, writing, “Thank you, Robbie Kaplan!”
Carroll’s lawsuit claimed that Trump sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in 1996 and then defamed her by calling her claim a “hoax” and a “con job” after leaving office in 2021.
Trump did not testify or present a defensive argument. His appeal focused on what he argued were major errors by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, such as admitting testimony from two other women who claimed to have been sexually harassed by Trump.
Jessica Leeds claimed that Trump began groping her unexpectedly while they were sitting next to each other on a flight to New York in the late 1970s, while Natasha Stoynoff testified that Trump pushed her against a wall and began kissing her in 2005, while she was at his Mar-a-Lago resort to interview him and Melania Trump for a story about their first wedding anniversary. Trump has refuted the charges.
His attorneys also pointed to Kaplan’s decision to allow the jury to hear the so-called “Access Hollywood” tape as another misstep. The 2005 tape recorded Trump on a hot mic bragging about groping women without their consent because “when you’re a star, they let you do it.”
The appeals court determined that Judge Kaplan had not “abused his discretion” by allowing the evidence into the case. In addition, “evidence of other conduct was relevant to show a pattern tending to directly corroborate witness testimony and to confirm that the alleged sexual assault actually occurred,” according to the verdict.
Trump is also appealing Carroll’s $83 million defamation judgment against him in a different but related case including derogatory remarks he made about her during his presidency and after the $5 million verdict.
That was her first lawsuit against Trump, but it was postponed while Trump claimed that his comments were covered by presidential immunity, which the judge denied.
Trump is also appealing the verdict to the Second United States Circuit Court of Appeals.
