The Daily Populous Tuesday December 31st, 2024 morning edition
Authored by abcnews.go.com and submitted by AudibleNod

A jury last year found that Trump had sexually abused Carroll in the 1990s.

A federal appeals court on Monday rejected President-elect Donald Trump's attempt to overturn a jury's verdict last year that found he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s.

The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided "Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings" and "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 jury in the civil case held Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s, and determined that, in 2022, he made defamatory statements about her. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.

A different jury, in a separate civil trial, ordered Trump to pay Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, $83 million in damages. Trump's appeal of that verdict is pending.

In the first trial, Trump claimed District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan erred by allowing two women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, to testify about Trump's alleged sexually assaults of them. Trump has denied the claims of those two women.

Trump also faulted Kaplan's decision to allow part of the now-infamous "Access Hollywood" tape into evidence. In the 2005 recording, Trump is heard describing to then-Access Hollywood host Billy Bush how he kissed and grabbed women without first obtaining their consent.

The appellate court, in Monday's opinion, decided the tape was admissible "as evidence of a pattern" of alleged behavior by Trump.

President-elect Donald Trump delivers remarks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Dec. 16, 2024. Evan Vucci/AP

"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," the opinion said.

Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, hailed Monday's decision.

"Both E. Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today's decision," Kaplan said in a statement. "We thank the Second Circuit for its careful consideration of the parties' arguments."

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung, in a statement, said the Carroll case "will continue to be appealed."

"The American People have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts," the statement said.

ABC News' Olivia Rubin contributed to this report.

Qubeye on December 30th, 2024 at 18:07 UTC »

A reminder that this was a civil case, but two major points:

They were unanimous in their decision. There was no split. Civil cases do not require unanimity.

2..E Jean Carrol's lawyers asked for a much lower punitive damages amount than what was awarded. Punitive damages are "how much do we need to take from you to get you to stop doing this." The jury bumped that number by something like $10-20 million, or something like 20-40%. Mostly because he continued to talk shit during the trial.

fohktor on December 30th, 2024 at 17:29 UTC »

"I just don't think he would do that thing that he's on tape saying that he does."

New_Housing785 on December 30th, 2024 at 15:42 UTC »

Because he's a rapist.