US Appeals Court Upholds $5 Million Verdict Against Trump for Sexual Abuse and Defamation
A US federal appeals court has upheld a jury’s decision, requiring President-elect Donald Trump to pay $5 million for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. The verdict, delivered after a nine-day civil trial in New York last year, found Trump guilty of sexually assaulting Carroll in a Manhattan department store in 1996. The jury awarded Carroll $2 million for the abuse and $3 million for defamation after Trump publicly denied the allegations.
Trump appealed the ruling, arguing that testimonies from two other women who accused him of sexual assault should not have been admitted as evidence in the trial. However, the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his appeal. The court stated, “Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings. Further, he 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.”
In addition to the $5 million verdict, Carroll won another case against Trump, where a jury awarded her $83 million in damages. Trump has appealed that ruling as well.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, expressed plans to appeal the $5 million judgment. In his statement, Cheung accused Democrats of targeting Trump politically and described the case as a “hoax.” He further criticized the judicial system, alleging political weaponization, and called for an end to investigations against the former President.
Meanwhile, special counsel Jack Smith recently dropped two federal cases against Trump, which involved allegations of mishandling classified documents and attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, citing a policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump continues to face legal challenges. In May, he was convicted in New York on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Despite Trump’s request to overturn the conviction, Judge Juan Merchan denied it, and sentencing has been postponed indefinitely.
