Trump loses appeal to overturn verdict in E. Jean Carroll case

President Trump lost his appeal to overturn the jury verdict in E. Jean Carroll's civic case in which he was found  liable for sexually abusing her.

The full 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on the case Friday, after a three-judge panel on the court unanimously upheld the verdict last year, The Hill news outlet reported. The Friday decision was an 8-2 vote that declined to change the prior ruling.

“Simply re-litigating a case is not an appropriate use of the en banc procedure,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Myrna Pérez, joined by three judges, all of whom are Biden appointees.

“In those rare instances in which a case warrants our collective consideration, it is almost always because it involves a question of exceptional importance or a conflict between the panel’s opinion and appellate precedent."

Trump's only avenue now for appeal is the Supreme Court.

The two dissenting judges, Steven Menashi and Michael Park, are Trump appointees. They wrote that the trial included a “series of indefensible evidentiary rulings.”

“The result was a jury verdict based on impermissible character evidence and few reliable facts," Menashi wrote. "No one can have any confidence that the jury would have returned the same verdict if the normal rules of evidence had been applied.” 

“The American People are supporting President Trump in historic numbers, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization 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,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement.

Caroll and attorney Robbie Kaplan said in a joint statement: "Although President Trump continues to try every possible maneuver to challenge the findings of two separate juries, those efforts have failed. He remains liable for sexual assault and defamation.”

A New York jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and defaming her by denying her story when she told it during his first term in office. He was ordered to pay $5 million by the jury.

Trump says he never assaulted Carroll, and argued that the trial was tainted because the jury heard improper evidence, including the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape and testimony from other women who accused Trump of sexual assault.  

He also said he should have been allowed to tell the jury that a nonprofit funded by LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic mega-donor Reid Hoffman helped pay Carroll's legal fees.