Thursday, July 10, 2025

Court Hands Trump Huge Blow in E. Jean Carroll Sex Abuse Case

Today the appeals court issued a mandate confirming the verdict and that the mandate starts a clock for Trump to ask the Supreme Court to accept his appeal

Trump loses appeal of $5 million E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse, defamation verdict

Published Thu, Jul 10 20253:00 PM EDT Updated 5 Hours Ago

Dan Mangan @_DanMangan

Key Points

A federal appeals court in New York officially affirmed the jury verdict that found President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.
The action by the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals starts the clock for Trump to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the verdict and its order that he pay her $5 million in damages.

A federal appeals court in New York on Thursday officially affirmed the jury verdict that found President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll, starting the clock for Trump to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the decision and its order that he pay her $5 million in damages.

The 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued the mandate affirming the verdict weeks after that same court rejected a bid by Trump to have the full judicial lineup in the circuit rehear his appeal of the 2023 Manhattan federal court jury verdict.

A three-judge panel of the circuit in December ruled against Trump’s appeal of the jury verdict.

Trump now has 90 days to ask the Supreme Court to hear his appeal. There is no automatic right to appeal to the Supreme Court.

> A legal spokesperson for Trump, in a statement to CNBC, said, “The American People are supporting President Trump in historic numbers, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoaxes, the defense of which the Attorney General has determined is legally required to be taken over by the Department of Justice because Carroll based her false claims on the President’s official acts, including statements from the White House.”

“President Trump will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare, as he is focusing on his mission to Make America Great Again,” the spokesperson said.

Trump loses appeal of $5 million E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse, defamation verdict

NBC New York

8 hours ago

'Idiosyncratic pattern of conduct': Federal appeals court refuses to grant Trump a new E. Jean Carroll trial based on 'Access Hollywood' tape evidence

NewsBreak

2 hours ago

Idiosyncratic pattern of conduct': Federal appeals court refuses to grant Trump a new E. Jean Carroll trial based on 'Access Hollywood' tape evidence - NewsBreak

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By Matt Naham,

7 hours ago

A three-judge panel on Thursday upheld a $5 million judgment and unanimously denied President Donald Trump's request for a new E. Jean Carroll defamation and sexual abuse civil trial, writing that he "has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings," even the one admitting the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape into evidence.

"Mr. Trump now appeals, contending that the district court (Lewis A. Kaplan, Judge) erred in several of its evidentiary rulings," the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals per curiam decision began, before referencing the "Access Hollywood" tape among other evidence.

"These include its decisions to admit the testimony of two women who alleged that Mr. Trump sexually assaulted them in the past and to admit a recording of part of a 2005 conversation in which Mr. Trump described to another man how he kissed and grabbed women without first obtaining their consent.
Mr. Trump contends that these and other asserted errors entitle him to a new trial."

Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin, Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Susan Carney, and U.S. Circuit Judge Myrna Pérez proved to be the tough panel draw that they seemed at the outset, concluding that Trump fell short of showing that Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan "erred" and that Trump did not show how "any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial."

The panel of judges found that the evidence supported Carroll's position that Trump had engaged in strikingly similar behavior in other scenarios.

"We conclude that the Access Hollywood tape described conduct that was sufficiently similar in material respects to the conduct alleged by Ms. Carroll (and Ms. Leeds and Ms. Stoynoff) to show the existence of a pattern tending to prove the [act], and not mere propensity," the judges wrote. "Mr. Trump's statements in the tape, together with the testimony of [Leeds and Stoynoff], establish a repeated, idiosyncratic pattern of conduct consistent with what Ms. Carroll alleged."

"In each of the three encounters, Mr. Trump engaged in an ordinary conversation with a woman he barely knew, then abruptly lunged at her in a semi-public place and proceeded to kiss and forcefully touch her without her consent," the ruling continued.

"The acts are sufficiently similar to show a pattern or 'recurring modus operandi.'"

. . .During June 24 oral arguments in Trump's appeal of the separate $83 million defamation judgment that fell in Carroll's favor, another 2nd panel that Chin was part of seemed skeptical of Trump's immunity-focused assertions. That panel has yet to issue a decision.

Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.