Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn $5 million judgment in E Jean Carroll defamation case

President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to overturn a $5 million judgment by a jury in a civil lawsuit verdict that found he sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll, a writer and columnist for Elle magazine. 

The judgment was issued by a federal jury in 2023. Carroll had claimed in her lawsuit that Trump had raped her in Bloomingdale’s in Manhattan in the 1990s, and then defamed her by calling her a liar. She also won a separate judgment of $83.3 million against Trump in 2024, again for defamation but for a different set of remarks he made about her claims. 

Trump’s lawyers argued that the allegations leading to the $5 million verdict were "propped up" by a "series of indefensible evidentiary rulings." 

"President Trump has clearly and consistently denied that this supposed incident ever occurred," one of Trump’s lawyers wrote in the filing, according to The Associated Press. "No physical or DNA evidence corroborates Carroll’s story. There were no eyewitnesses, no video evidence, and no police report or investigation."

Trump's lawyers first indicated they would appeal to the Supreme Court in September, according to Fox News. 

A spokesperson for Trump's legal team told the AP the Supreme Court appeal was part of the president's crusade against "Liberal Lawfare."

"The American People stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes," the statement said.