A federal appeals court has affirmed a $5 million (€4.8 million) ruling in favor of E Jean Carroll against Donald Trump, following a jury’s determination that the former president was liable for sexually assaulting and subsequently defaming the ex-columnist for a magazine.
The ruling was delivered by a panel of three judges from the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals located in Manhattan.
The verdict from May 2023 was related to an incident purportedly occurring in 1996 in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan, where Ms. Carroll alleged that Mr. Trump raped her. This also involved a denial by Mr. Trump in an October 2022 post on Truth Social, where he claimed Ms. Carroll’s assertion was a hoax.
While jurors in the federal court in Manhattan did not determine that Mr. Trump had committed rape, they awarded the former Elle magazine advice columnist $2.02 million for sexual assault and $2.98 million for defamation.
In his denials, Mr. Trump claimed he did not know Ms. Carroll, stated that she was “not my type,” and accused her of fabricating the rape allegation to promote her memoir. He is currently appealing the $83.3 million (€80.1 million) ruling.
Ms. Carroll’s legal battles are ongoing, even after Mr. Trump secured a second four-year term in the White House on November 5.
In a landmark 1997 case involving former President Bill Clinton, the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled that sitting presidents do not have immunity from civil lawsuits in federal court for actions that occurred prior to and are unrelated to their official presidential responsibilities.
Mr. Trump’s legal team contended that the $5 million verdict should be dismissed on the grounds that the trial judge improperly permitted jurors to hear testimonies from two other women who had accused Mr. Trump of sexual misconduct.
One of these women, businesswoman Jessica Leeds, claimed Mr. Trump groped her on a flight in the late 1970s. The other, former People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff, alleged that Mr. Trump forcibly kissed her at his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2005.
Additionally, Mr. Trump’s attorneys argued that the trial judge should not have allowed jurors to view a 2005 “Access Hollywood” video in which Mr. Trump made graphic boasts about forcing himself on women.
Both trials were conducted under the supervision of US District Judge Lewis Kaplan.
