With less than a month to go until Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the president-elect is still facing legal troubles.
A federal appeals court panel on Monday upheld a $5 million verdict against President-elect Donald Trump, confirming a jury’s finding that he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and later defamed her.
The unanimous ruling by the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Trump’s claims that the trial was marred by improper evidence and judicial errors. The panel concluded that the district court’s rulings did not impact the fairness of the trial or warrant a retrial.
“We conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” the court wrote in its opinion.
Carroll alleged that Trump assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in 1996. The May 2023 jury verdict awarded her $2.02 million for sexual abuse and $2.98 million for defamation after Trump denied her claims and called them a hoax.
During the trial, the jury heard testimony from two other women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct, as well as a 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump bragged about groping women without consent. The appeals court ruled that this evidence demonstrated a pattern of behavior that corroborated Carroll’s allegations.
“Taken together, the evidence establishes a repeated, idiosyncratic pattern of conduct consistent with what Ms. Carroll alleged,” the judges wrote.
Trump’s spokesperson, Steven Cheung, criticized the decision, calling the case a “hoax” and part of the “political weaponization of our justice system.” Trump has vowed to continue appealing.
Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, expressed satisfaction with the outcome. “E. Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today’s decision. We thank the Second Circuit for its careful consideration of the parties’ arguments,” she said.
Trump faces an ongoing appeal in a separate case in which a jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in additional defamation damages. That verdict stemmed from Trump’s continued denials of her allegations after leaving office in 2021.
The decision marks a legal setback for Trump as he prepares for a return to the White House amid multiple high-profile legal battles.
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