A New York federal appeals court on Monday upheld a jury’s verdict that President-elect Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed columnist E. Jean Carroll and owes her $5 million for doing so.
“We conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” wrote the Appeals Court judges. “Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.”
Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll, thanked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals “for its careful consideration” of the arguments.
“Both E. Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today’s decision,” Kaplan said in a statement.
Carroll brought the lawsuit against the former president, claiming he assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s and then hurt her reputation by attacking her allegations as a “con job” in 2022. Trump has strongly denied her claims and disputed a Manhattan civil jury’s unanimous verdict.
More:Did Donald Trump rape E. Jean Carroll? Here’s what a jury and judge said.
In his appeal, Trump’s lawyers attacked trial Judge Lewis Kaplan’s decision to allow two other women to testify that Trump assaulted them, too. Trump, who has maintained his innocence of the accusations, argued he was entitled to a new trial.
But Appeals Court Judges Denny Chin, Susan Carney and Myrna Perez disagreed. Chin and Carney were appointed by former President Barack Obama and Perez was appointed by President Joe Biden.
The appeals court ruled that such evidence is usually excluded but that acceptable purposes for allowing it included showing “motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, or lack of accident.”
When Congress adopted rules that Trump cited, the appeals court found that the rules allowed courts to admit evidence that a “defendant has the motivation or disposition to commit sexual acts.”
One of the two said Trump pushed her against a wall and forcibly kissed her as she was conducting a magazine interview in the mid-2000s. The other woman described him grabbing her breasts and trying to kiss her while reaching up her skirt on an airplane in the late 1970s. Trump denies those allegations as well.
The Trump team also argued the jury shouldn’t have been allowed to hear Trump saying on an “Access Hollywood” recording that he kisses women without waiting for them to give consent and that stars can grab women’s genitals.
“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 appeals court ruled.
Carroll’s lawyers argued that her sexual abuse case against Trump wasn’t even close, in part because two friends of Carroll testified they heard her story of being assaulted by Trump soon after she says it happened. The lawyers also said the testimony from the other women alleging they were assaulted by Trump demonstrated his propensity to assault women “in markedly similar ways across time.”
The $5 million verdict is just the tip of the iceberg in Trump’s legal troubles with Carroll. A separate federal jury awarded Carroll another $83.3 million for statements Trump made in 2019, soon after Carroll went public with her allegations. At that time, Trump said “people should pay dearly for such false accusations.” Trump’s appeal of that larger verdict is ongoing.
Trump has said Carroll’s story is false and she isn’t his “type.” However, Carroll’s legal team has noted that, during a 2022 deposition, Trump confused Carroll in a photo from 1987 for his former wife, Marla Maples. Carroll testified at length in the sexual abuse case about her assault allegations and was cross-examined by Trump’s legal team.
In a major legal blow to former President Donald Trump, a New York appeals court has ruled against him in a case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of sexual abuse and defamation.
Carroll alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. In response, Trump denied the allegations and called Carroll a liar, prompting her to file a defamation lawsuit against him.
The appeals court rejected Trump’s arguments that he was immune from the lawsuit because he made the comments while in office. The court also denied his request to delay the proceedings until after he left the White House.
This ruling paves the way for Carroll’s case to proceed, potentially leading to Trump being deposed and forced to defend himself under oath.
The decision is a significant setback for Trump, who has faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment over the years. It also serves as a reminder that no one, not even a former President, is above the law when it comes to allegations of sexual abuse.
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