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Published on December 30, 2024
Appeals Court Smackdown, Trump's Bid to Toss E. Jean Carroll Abuse Verdict Fails BiglySource: Wikipedia/Shaleah Craighead, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In a recent decision, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous verdict against President-elect Donald Trump, dismissing his request to overturn the jury's findings. The jury had found Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s, along with defamatory statements made more recently. As cited by ABC7NY, the appellate court determined that "Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings." Moreover, the court said, "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."

The initial trial, resulting in a $5 million compensation for Carroll, came after allegations were brought forward that Trump had sexually abused her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room. The appeals court, reinforcing the stance that substantial rights remain unaffected, firmly rejected Trump's appeal. According to News3LV, Trump's opposition included his argument against the decision to allow testimonies from Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, who also accused Trump of sexual assault, as well as the inclusion of the "Access Hollywood" tape as evidence. This tape, from 2005, captured Trump speaking of kissing and grabbing women without consent.

In a separate civil trial, the former Elle magazine columnist was awarded a significantly larger sum of $83 million in damages from Trump. This trial investigated statements Trump made while he was president and found them defamatory. As of now, Trump's appeal against this separate verdict is still pending.

The appellate court maintained that the "Access Hollywood" tape was applicable "as evidence of a pattern" of Trump's alleged behavior. Their opinion stated that, "The jury could have reasonably concluded from those statements that, in the past, Mr. Trump had kissed women without their consent and then proceeded to touch their genitalia," as reported by ABC7NY. This reasoning was echoed in a conclusion which seems to have firmly anchored the court's ruling to deny the motion put forward by Trump's legal team for a new trial.