The US Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal filed by President Donald Trump seeking a review of a civil case in which he was found guilty of defamation and sexual assault against author E. Jean Carroll.
The BBC writes about this.
Last year, a federal appeals court agreed with the juryʼs verdict and ruled that there was no basis for a new trial. Trump then appealed to the Supreme Court.
This was Trumpʼs last chance to overturn the unanimous jury verdict. He must now pay Carroll the $5 million in damages awarded.
After the courtʼs decision, Trump published a post on Truth Social in which he stated that he would continue to fight against "politically motivated prosecution through the courts", and once again called the lawsuit against him defamation.
"This case is truly directed against the United States of America and everything it stands for. This should never happen to any other president or presidential candidate," he wrote.
Trump also claimed that New York State had specifically passed a law that temporarily allowed lawsuits to be filed in old cases of sexual assault in order to "unlawfully seize" him.
In an appeal to the Supreme Court, Trumpʼs lawyers argued that Carrollʼs lawyers had no right to show the jurors a 2005 Access Hollywood recording in which Trump talks about touching women without their consent and kissing them.
What Carroll accuses Trump of
Columnist Elizabeth Jean Carroll has accused Trump of an assault that took place more than 30 years ago. She says the incident took place at a Bergdorf Goodman store in Manhattan in late 1995 or early 1996. Trump was in the store picking out lingerie for another woman and asked Carroll for help. He then jokingly asked the woman to try on the lingerie, after which he allegedly attacked her in the changing room.
The woman claims she managed to fight back and escape. She did not want to go to the police at the time because she was “shocked and did not want to think of herself as a rape victim”. Two of Carroll’s friends confirmed that the woman told them about the incident within days of it happening.
After Carroll spoke about the assault, Trump repeatedly denied her claims, calling the woman a liar. Carroll filed two lawsuits against Trump (in 2023 and 2024) alleging sexual assault and defamation.
The woman won both cases: in the 2023 case (sexual assault and defamation), the court awarded her $5 million in compensation, and in the 2024 case (defamation) another $83.3 million. Both verdicts were later upheld on appeal. Since the cases were civil, Trump was not actually found guilty of a crime, but was only held legally liable and ordered to pay compensation.
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