Author E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million legal judgment against President-elect Donald Trump has been affirmed by a federal appeals court.
In 2023, a jury found Trump guilty of sexually abusing Carroll in the 1990s and then defaming her after she came out with her claims.
Trump has refuted the accusations and filed an appeal, arguing that the judge who oversaw the nine-day trial rendered unjust decisions and that the verdict was “grossly excessive” and ought to be overturned.
A 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel was in disagreement.
“We come to the conclusion that Mr. Trump hasn’t proven the district court made a mistake in any of the contested decisions. According to the judges’ verdict, he has also failed to prove that any one of the alleged errors—or a combination of them—affected his substantive rights, which is necessary to support a fresh trial.
“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 the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed,” said Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung in response to the decision.
Roberta Kaplan, a Carroll lawyer, expressed her and her client’s satisfaction with today’s ruling. We express our gratitude to the Second Circuit for giving the parties’ arguments significant thought.
“Thank you, Robbie Kaplan!” Carroll wrote after sharing a link to a news article about the decision on Facebook.
In her lawsuit, Carroll claimed that Trump had sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in 1996 and that, after leaving office in 2021, he had defamed her by referring to her claim as a “hoax” and a “con job.”
Trump did not present a defense or testify. His appeal centered on what he alleged were serious mistakes made by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, such as permitting two additional women who believed Trump had sexually harassed them to testify.
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 on their first wedding anniversary, Jessica Leeds claimed that Trump suddenly began to grope her while they were sitting next to each other on a flight to New York in the late 1970s. Trump has refuted their claims.
His lawyers also pointed to Kaplan’s choice to play the alleged “Access Hollywood” tape for the jury as another mistake. On a hot mic in 2005, Trump boasted that he could grope women without their permission because “when you’re a star, they let you do it.”
Kaplan had not “abused his discretion” by allowing the evidence to be included in the case, according to the appeals court. conclusion was that “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,” the court stated.
In a different but connected case, Trump is also appealing Carroll’s $83 million defamation judgment against him. The complaint concerns his defamatory remarks about her throughout his presidency and following the $5 million verdict.
In fact, it was the first lawsuit she brought against Trump, but it was put on hold while Trump claimed his remarks were shielded by presidential immunity, a defense Kaplan denied.
Additionally, Trump is appealing that decision to the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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