A federal appeals court panel on Monday upheld a jury’s verdict holding President-elect Donald Trump liable for sexually assaulting advice columnist E. Jean Carroll and defaming her, affirming the $5 million judgment against him.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled that Trump failed to show any errors in the trial court’s decisions that would warrant overturning the verdict or granting a new trial. “Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” the three-judge panel concluded in its unsigned opinion.
The upshot of this decision means Trump will not land a new trial against Carroll, unless he seeks additional review by the full 2nd Circuit, or appeals to the Supreme Court.
A New York jury found last year Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s and defaming her in 2022 by denying her account. Carroll also secured an $83 million defamation judgment in a separate trial over Trump’s earlier denials during his presidency. Trump is appealing that case as well.
During the appeal, Trump’s legal team argued the district court erred by admitting testimony from other women who alleged sexual misconduct by Trump and the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, where Trump described groping women without consent.
The appeals court rejected these arguments, affirming the trial court’s rulings.
The decision keeps intact a significant legal finding against Trump as he prepares to assume the presidency in January 2025. He has repeatedly denied Carroll’s allegations, calling them politically motivated.
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More recently, Trump scored a win over his own lawsuit related to this case against ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, who falsely claimed Trump “raped” Carroll when he described the outcome of Carroll’s case against him on live television.
ABC News agreed to a $15 million settlement deal so that Trump would drop his defamation suit, in addition to an apology to the president-elect and agreement to pay $1 million in attorneys’ fees.