Appeals court upholds Trump sexual abuse, defamation liability verdict
Al Jazeera
President-elect loses appeal in E Jean Carroll case connected to alleged 1990s attack, must pay $5m.
United States President-elect Donald Trump has lost an appeal to a jury’s 2023 finding that he was liable for sexual abuse and defamation related to an alleged attack on writer E Jean Carroll in the 1990s.
On Monday, a federal appeals court upheld the 2023 verdict in the civil case, in which Trump was not found to have committed rape, but was ordered to pay Carroll $2.02m for sexual assault and $2.98m for defamation.
Carroll had accused Trump of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in either 1995 or 1996. She detailed the alleged attack in a 2019 article, prompting a denial from then-President Trump via the White House spokesperson.
Carroll initially filed a defamation lawsuit in 2019 and a second, separate lawsuit alleging defamation and rape in November 2022. The second suit came after Trump called the lawsuits as “complete con job” and claimed he had “no idea” who Carroll was. He further derided the legal action as a “hoax”.
