A federal appeals court has upheld the jury’s verdict finding Donald Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll and denied his request for a new trial. Trump had challenged the $5 million civil verdict, alleging that the trial judge made numerous errors, including allowing testimony from two other women who claimed Trump sexually assaulted them. The appeals court concluded that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in ruling on evidence and that even if he made any errors, they were not persuaded that Trump’s rights were affected to warrant a new trial.
Carroll alleged that Trump raped her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store and then defamed her when he denied her claim, saying she wasn’t his type and suggesting she made up the story to boost sales of her book. Trump denied all wrongdoing. The jury found that Trump sexually abused Carroll, but did not find that she proved he raped her.
Carroll filed the lawsuit last year under the “New York State Adult Survivors Act,” a state bill that opened a look-back window for sexual assault allegations like Carroll’s with long-expired statutes of limitation. Trump’s top spokesman and incoming White House communications director, Steven Cheung, said that more appeals are coming and that the American people demand an end to the “political weaponization of our justice system” and a swift dismissal of all the “Witch Hunts,” including the Carroll case.