Appeals court rejects Trump’s attempt to overturn E. Jean Carroll verdict A jury last year found that Trump had sexually abused Carroll in the 1990s.

Appeals court rejects Trump’s attempt to overturn E. Jean Carroll verdict
A jury last year found that Trump had sexually abused Carroll in the 1990s.

ByAaron Katersky
December 30, 2024, 5:52 PM

0:35
Court nixes Trump bid to overturn Carroll verdictAn appeals court has rejected Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn a jury’s verdict last year that found he sexually abused writer E…Show More
A federal appeals court on Monday rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn a jury’s verdict last year that found he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s.

The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided “Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings” and “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.”

The jury in the civil case held Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s, and determined that, in 2022, he made defamatory statements about her. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.

MORE: Judges appear skeptical as Trump seeks new trial in E. Jean Carroll case
A different jury, in a separate civil trial, ordered Trump to pay Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, $83 million in damages. Trump’s appeal of that verdict is pending.

In the first trial, Trump claimed District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan erred by allowing two women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, to testify about Trump’s alleged sexually assaults of them. Trump has denied the claims of those two women.

Trump also faulted Kaplan’s decision to allow part of the now-infamous “Access Hollywood” tape into evidence. In the 2005 recording, Trump is heard describing to then-Access Hollywood host Billy Bush how he kissed and grabbed women without first obtaining their consent.

The appellate court, in Monday’s opinion, decided the tape was admissible “as evidence of a pattern” of alleged behavior by Trump