NEW YORK (AP) – A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a jury’s finding in a civil lawsuit that Donald Trump sexually abused a columnist in the fitting room of an upscale department store in the mid-1990s.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has issued a written opinion upholding the $5 million award a Manhattan jury awarded to E. Jean Carroll on charges of defamation and sexual abuse.
The longtime magazine columnist testified at his 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in the spring of 1996 into a violent attack after he playfully entered a store dressing room.
Trump was absent from the trial after repeatedly denying that the attack occurred. However, he testified briefly in a follow-up defamation trial earlier this year that resulted in an $83.3 million award. The second trial was based on then-President Trump’s comments after Carroll made his first public accusations in a 2019 memoir.
In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the appeals court found that Judge Lewis A. Kaplan undermined the trial by allowing testimony from two other women who accused Trump of sexual abuse. He rejected claims by Trump’s lawyers that he had made multiple decisions to .
The judge also allowed jurors to view the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in 2005 in which Trump bragged about grabbing a woman’s genitals. Because once you become a star, you can do anything.
“We conclude that Mr. Trump has not shown that the district court erred in any of its contested decisions,” the Second Circuit said. “Furthermore, he has not carried the burden of showing that the alleged error or combination of alleged errors affected his substantive rights as required to justify a new trial.” yeah.”
In September, both Carroll, 81, and Trump, 78, attended oral arguments before the Second Circuit.
Trump’s press secretary, Stephen Chan, said in a statement that Trump was “elected by voters who overwhelmingly fulfilled their mandate. They called for an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system, including witch hunts.” We demand an immediate disbandment of all witch hunts.” The Carroll hoax case was funded by Democrats and will continue to be appealed. ”
Attorney Roberta Kaplan, who represented Carroll during the trial and is not related to the judge, said in a statement: We thank the Second Circuit for carefully considering the parties’ arguments. ”
The first jury found in May 2023 that Trump sexually abused Carroll and defamed her in comments made in October 2022, and the jury awarded Carroll $5 million.
In January, a second jury awarded Carroll an additional $83.3 million in damages, finding that comments Trump made about her while president were defamatory. The jury had been instructed by the judge to accept the first jury’s finding that Trump sexually abused Carroll. An appeal against that decision has not yet been heard.
Carroll testified in both trials that her life as a columnist for Elle magazine was ruined by President Trump’s public comments, which motivated some people to send her death threats and live. She said she was nervous about leaving her cabin in upstate New York.
Trump testified for less than three minutes during his second trial and was not allowed to challenge the jury’s conclusion in May 2023. Still, he was animated in the courtroom throughout the two-week trial, and jurors could hear him complaining about the case.
During appellate arguments in September, President Trump’s attorney D. John Sauer said the testimony of witnesses who recalled Carroll speaking shortly afterward about her encounter with Trump in 1996 meant that the witnesses had no idea that Trump He said it was inappropriate because he had a “terrible prejudice” against him.
The lawyers also said the judge should have excluded testimony from two women who said Trump sexually abused them in the 1970s and in 2005. President Trump also denies these claims.
The 2nd Circuit said, “In each of the three encounters, Mr. Trump engaged in normal conversation with a woman he barely knew, then suddenly lunged toward her in a semi-public place and did so without her consent.” He kissed me without asking and touched me forcibly.” . The acts are similar enough to show a pattern. ”
The Access Hollywood tapes “directly corroborate” the women’s accounts of the pattern of behavior they experienced.
The Associated Press does not identify people who say they were sexually assaulted, like Carroll, unless they come forward publicly.
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