Court Upholds $5 Million Verdict Against Trump in Sexual Abuse Lawsuit

Manhattan – Donald Trump has lost his appeal to overturn the jury verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. The federal appeals court ruling came just one day after Trump hinted on social media that he would seek retribution against Carroll for her lawsuit, which alleges the abuse occurred in a Manhattan dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman department store around 1996.

On his Truth Social account, Trump shared a photo of Carroll with the caption, “Should a woman go to jail for falsely accusing a man of rape? Retruth if you want justice for Trump.” He has also suggested potential actions against others, including Liz Cheney and President Joe Biden, who he claims have wronged him.

However, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Sunday that Trump had not proven any errors in the district court’s decisions. The ruling stated that Trump failed to demonstrate that any alleged errors significantly impacted his rights to a new trial.

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In May 2023, a jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages after finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation following comments he made about Carroll in 2022. Trump’s legal team argued that two women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, should not have been allowed to testify about their own alleged sexual assaults by Trump. They also contended that the infamous Access Hollywood tape, where Trump was heard making lewd comments about women, should not have been used as evidence. The appeals court disagreed, ruling that the testimonies of Leeds and Stoynoff demonstrated a consistent pattern of behavior, and the tape was admissible to show this pattern.

Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, expressed satisfaction with the decision, stating that both Carroll and her legal team were “gratified by today’s decision.”

In a separate case in January, Trump also lost a trial, with a jury awarding Carroll $83 million in damages over his denials of her accusations from 2019. Trump has continued to deny all allegations, asserting that Carroll is “not my type” and that he never met her.