Trump loses appeal in $US5 million E. Jean Carroll defamation, sexual abuse case
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Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, said in a statement that Americans “demand an immediate end to the political weaponisation of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the witch hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll hoax, which will continue to be appealed”.
It was not clear if any appeal would go to the US Supreme Court. Trump tapped Cheung last month to be his White House communications director.
Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll, said in a statement: “E. Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today’s decision.”
Carroll’s cases are continuing despite Trump’s having won a second four-year White House term.
In 1997, in a case involving former President Bill Clinton, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that sitting presidents have no immunity from civil litigation in federal court over actions predating and unrelated to their official duties as president.
Trump argued the $US5-million verdict should be thrown out because the trial judge, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to Roberta Kaplan, should not have let jurors hear testimony from two other women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
One, businesswoman Jessica Leeds, said Trump groped her on a plane in the late 1970s. The other, former People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff, said Trump forcibly kissed her at his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2005.
Trump’s lawyers also said the trial judge should not have let jurors watch the 2005 Access Hollywood video, where Trump boasted graphically about forcing himself on women.
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But the appeals court said that in each of these encounters, “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.”
It said this was “relevant to show a pattern tending to directly corroborate witness testimony and to confirm that the alleged sexual assault (of Carroll) actually occurred”.
The court also rejected Trump’s claim that Kaplan should have allowed evidence that a prominent Democratic critic, billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, funded Carroll’s case, saying it had “little probative value.” Carroll is also a Democrat.
Judge Kaplan also oversaw the trial that ended with the $US83.3 million verdict.
