Donald Trump’s request for a new trial in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation and sexual abuse case against him was shut down by a federal appeals court Monday.
In a new 77-page filing, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the original verdict from the district court that Trump was liable for sexually abusing Carroll in 1996, then defaming her in 2022.
“On review for abuse of discretion, we conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” the filing stated. “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.
Trump’s attorneys had argued that the May 2023 verdict should be thrown out because U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan should not have allowed jurors to hear testimony from two other women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, who also accused the president-elect of sexual misconduct.
The appeals court, however, ruled that the district court “did not abuse its discretion” in admitting their testimonies into evidence.
Trump’s lawyers also tried to argue that the judge should not have allowed the jury to view the 2005 Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump claimed that “when you’re a star” women will let you “grab them” by their genitals, a video which many people not on the jury have also seen.
The court ruled that the inclusion of the tape into evidence was “relevant to prove that the alleged sexual assault actually occurred.”
This story has been updated.
