Donald Trump has lost his appeal to overturn a jury verdict that he sexually abused former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.
The federal appeals court ruling comes just a day after the president-elect hinted at seeking retribution against Carroll for suing him over an alleged incident in a dressing room at Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman department store in 1996.
Trump posted a photo of the writer on his Truth Social account with the caption: “Should a woman go to jail for falsely accusing a man of rape?” If you want Trump to be treated fairly, tell the truth.”
Trump has also hinted that he will take action against those who have crossed him, such as Liz Cheney and President Joe Biden.
However, the Second United States Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Sunday that “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,” according to ABC News.
The jury in Carroll’s May 2023 civil case awarded her $5 million in damages after finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and making defamatory remarks about the former Elle magazine columnist in 2022.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the judge should not have allowed two women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, to testify about alleged sexual assaults by Trump.
They also argued that the case should not have included the infamous Access Hollywood tape in which he was heard talking inappropriately about women.
The appeals court judge ruled that the evidence provided by the two women demonstrated “a repeated, idiosyncratic pattern of conduct.”
They also stated that the videotape was admissible “as evidence of a pattern” of behavior.
“Both E. Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today’s decision,” Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said of the appeals court ruling.
In a second trial verdict in January, which Trump is also appealing, a jury awarded Carroll $83 million in damages for his 2019 denials of her allegations.
Trump has repeatedly denied all of the allegations, claiming that Carroll was “not my type” and that he had never met her.
