John Lamparski NurPhoto/Zuma
On Monday, a federal appeals court tossed out Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the verdict against him in the 2023 civil suit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll.
“We conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” the ruling said. “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 March of last year, a federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse after Carroll alleged that he had raped her at Bergdorf Goodman in 1996. The jury also found that Trump had defamed her with his repeated denials. Trump was subsequently ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages, a ruling that he has been fighting since September.
Since challenging the verdict, Trump has only repeated similarly defamatory comments about Carroll. During one press conference, he accused her of stealing her story from an episode of Law & Order and calling a photo of the two of them “AI-generated.”
Those attacks have continued. Earlier this week, Trump reposted a photo of Carroll with the caption “Should a woman go to jail for falsely accusing a man of rape? Retruth if you want justice for Trump,” hinting once again that he’s hoping to prosecute his perceived enemies upon returning to office.
Correction, December 30: This post has been updated to note that a civil court in the 2023 case found Trump liable.
