Court upholds $83.3M verdict against Trump in Carroll defamation case

A federal appeals court on Monday upheld an $83.3 million jury award against US President Donald Trump for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll in 2019 when he denied her rape allegation.

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan rejected Trump’s bid to overturn the January 2024 verdict, ruling that he was not entitled to presidential immunity in the case.

The three-judge panel said Trump “failed to identify any grounds that would warrant reconsidering” its prior finding on presidential immunity.

The judges also concluded that the trial court “did not err in any of the challenged rulings and that the jury’s damages awards are fair and reasonable.”

Background on Carroll’s Claims

Carroll, 81, a former Elle magazine columnist, alleged that Trump assaulted her around 1996 in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York.

Trump denied the claim in June 2019, stating Carroll was “not my type” and accusing her of fabricating the story to sell her memoir, What Do We Need Men For?

Those denials led Carroll to file multiple defamation suits.

In May 2023, a jury awarded her $5 million in damages for sexual assault and defamation after Trump repeated his denials in an October 2022 Truth Social post.

The 2nd Circuit upheld that award in June this year.

The $83.3 million verdict, handed down in January 2024, stemmed from Trump’s original 2019 statements.

The award included $18.3 million for emotional and reputational harm and $65 million in punitive damages.

Trump’s appeals arguments

In seeking to overturn the larger judgment, Trump’s legal team argued that his comments about Carroll were made in his official capacity as president and should therefore be shielded by presidential immunity.

They cited the US Supreme Court’s July 2024 ruling that expanded immunity protections in criminal cases.

Trump’s lawyers also contended that US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over both trials, improperly excluded his testimony that he sought only to defend himself, his family, and the presidency.

The appeals court rejected those arguments, saying the immunity claim had already been settled in prior rulings and that no errors were found in Judge Kaplan’s handling of the case.

The decision arrived less than a week after Trump’s lawyers indicated plans to petition the US Supreme Court to review the separate $5 million Carroll verdict.

Carroll, who continues to write about her legal battles with Trump, published a new memoir in June titled Not My Type: One Woman vs a President.