A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a jury's finding in a civil case that Donald Trump sexually a♓bused a columnist in an upscale department store dressing room in the m൲id-1990s.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals issued a written opinion upholding the USD 5 million award that the Manhattan jury granted to E. Jean Ca𓆏rroll for defamation and sexual abuse.
The longtime magazine columnist had testified🐭 at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a⛎ violent attack after they playfully entered the store's dressing room.
Trump skipped the triaꦡl after repeatedly denying the attack ever happened. But he briefly testified at a follow-up defamation trial earlier this year that resulted in a USD 83.3 million award. The second trial resulted from comments then-President Trump made in 2019 after Carroll first made the accusations publicly in a memoir.
In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the appeals court rejected claims by Tr♎ump's lawyers that trial Judge Lewis A. Kaplan had made multiple decisions that spoiled the trial, including his decision to allow two other women who had accused Trump of sexually abusing them to testify.
The judge also had allowed the jury to view the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump boasted in 2005 about grabbi♚ng women's genitals because when someone is🍎 a star, “you can do anything.”
“We conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings," the 2nd Circuit said. “Further, he has not carried𝕴 his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.”
Iꦐn September, both Carroll, 81, and Trump, 78, attended oral arguments by the 2nd Circuit.
Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, said in a statement that Trump was elected by voters who delivered "an overwhelming mandate, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift 🍒dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed.”
Robertaꦰ Kaplan, a lawyer who represented Carroll during the trial and is not related to the judge, 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.”
The ꦯfirst jury found in May 2023 that Trump sexually abused Carroll and defamed her with comments he made in October 2022. That jury awarded Carroll USD 5 million.
In January, a second jury awarded Carroll an additional USD 83.3 million in damages for comments Trump had made about her whi💎le he was president, finding that they were defamatory. That j𒁃ury had been instructed by the judge to accept the first jury's finding that Trump had sexually abused Carroll.
Trump testified forꦗ under three minutes at the second trial and was not permitted to challenge conclusions reached by the May 2023 jury. Still, he was animated in the courtroom throughout the two-week trial, and jurors could hear him grumbling about the case.
