A federal appeals court has affirmed a jury’s $5 million sexual abuse and defamation verdict against Donald Trump, rejecting the president-elect’s effort for a new trial in the case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.
“On review of abuse of discretion, we conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” the three appellate judges wrote. “Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.”
A jury in 2023 found that Trump sexually abused Carroll in an incident at the Bergdorf-Goodman department store in 1996. The jury also found that Trump defamed her in statements he made in 2022, and awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.
Read the Trump appeals court decision.
Trump has denied Carroll’s claims, and he is likely to appeal.
Roberta (Robbie) Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, said in a statement, “Both E. Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today’s decision. We thank the Second Circuit for its careful consideration of the parties’ arguments.”
In another related case, Trump was found liable for defamation against Carroll in earlier statements he made against her. Earlier this year, the jury in that case awarded Carroll $83.3 million in additional damages.
Trump sought a new trial, challenging a district court judge’s decision to allow the testimony of two women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, who testified about other alleged incidents of sexual misconduct by Trump, and the admission of the infamous 2005 Access Hollywood tape, when he told Billy Bush that “when you are a star, they let you do it…grab them by the pussy.” The judge also blocked references to DNA evidence or to Carroll’s choice of counsel.
The appellate judges wrote that, in siding with the decision to admit the Access Hollywood tape, the jury “could have reasonably concluded from those statements that, in the past, Mr. Trump had kissed women without their consent and then proceeded to touch their genitalia.”
The judges wrote that “the court’s duty was simply to decide whether a jury could reasonably find by a preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Trump committed an act of sexual assault (as defined under Rule 413). If it could so find, the court had the discretion to admit the evidence.”
Earlier this month, a New York judge ruled that Trump did not have immunity from his criminal conviction on 34 felony counts related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump has yet to be sentenced in the case, with the timing still pending.
After Trump was elected to another term in November, special counsel Jack Smith moved to drop his indictment on the former president over the retention of classified documents, and his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 presidential election. A Georgia racketeering case against Trump is still pending.
More to come.
English (US) ·