Donald Trump and E Jean Carroll’s attorneys are facing off in federal appeals court on Friday in his efforts to overturn a Manhattan civil jury’s $5m judgement against him for sexually abusing and defaming the writer.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is reportedly poised to attend these proceedings before the US court of appeals for the second circuit this morning. But it is unclear whether he will show up to court – especially with the 2024 election in its final stretch.
A jury found in May 2023 that Trump attacked Carroll in a department store dressing room some 30 years ago. Their award was comprised of $2m for sexual abuse and $3m for defamation, as Trump repeatedly smeared Carroll’s reputation after she came forward against him just over five years ago.
Carroll disclosed the incident in a June 2019 New York magazine article, which was an excerpt of her then-forthcoming book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal; Trump responded by claiming she was lying and trying to damage him politically.
Carroll also won a $83.3m civil verdict against Trump in a second trial this January. The judge in both trials, Lewis Kaplan, determined that jurors’ findings in the first trial – that Trump sexually abused and defamed Carroll – would be accepted as fact in the second trial.
Because of this, Trump could not re-litigate Carroll’s sexual abuse claim. The jury was tasked solely with considering financial penalties for damaging her reputation – and how much money was required to prevent Trump from continuing to tarnish her reputation.
