Trump fails to win new trial in E. Jean Carroll sex-abuse case

A federal appeals court denied Donald Trump’s request for a new trial in New York writer E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse lawsuit, dealing a blow to the president-elect as he seeks to put his legal woes behind him before taking office.

The US Court of Appeals for Second Circuit in Manhattan on Monday rejected Trump’s argument that jurors last year shouldn’t have heard the so-called Access Hollywood tape or testimony from another woman who accused him of sexual assault. 

That evidence helped to “establish a repeated, idiosyncratic pattern of conduct consistent with what Ms. Carroll alleged,” the court said, adding, “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 president-elect could now appeal to the US Supreme Court.

Trump was found liable by a Manhattan jury in May 2023 following a trial in which he declined to testify. The panel of six men and three women awarded Carroll $5 million in damages for the abuse claim, as well as a claim of defamation. In January, Carroll won a second $83 million verdict against Trump over defamation claims.