Author E. Jean Carroll arrives at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on September 6, 2024 in Manhattan, New York, USA. Former President Donald Trump is expected to arrive to ask a federal appeals court to overturn a $5 million jury verdict that found Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation nearly three decades ago.
Adam Gray | Reuters
The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear President Donald Trump’s appeal of a New York federal jury’s verdict that ordered author E. Jean Carroll to pay $5 million in damages for sexual abuse and defamation by Trump.
Trump was found civilly liable for defaming Carroll by a separate jury in Manhattan federal court. The lawsuit awarded her $83.3 million in damages, which Trump is appealing in a lower federal appeals court.
As is common with such orders, the Supreme Court did not explain why it denied President Trump’s request to hear an appeal of his $5 million judgment in the 2023 case. Three of the judges appointed by President Trump to the high court did not issue a written dissent to the decision.
Trump’s lawyers said the trial judge in the case improperly allowed testimony from two other women who said they were targets of sexual misconduct by Trump, as well as a so-called “Access Hollywood” tape in which the president allegedly bragged about kissing and grabbing women years ago.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision categorically confirms the unanimous jury verdict that President Donald J. Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll,” Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan said in a statement.
“His repeated efforts to appeal his sentence have all failed, and today’s ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions,” Kaplan said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement following the decision: “The American people support President Trump in calling for an immediate end to all witch hunts, including the Democratic-funded farce of the Carroll hoax. President Trump will remain focused on his mission to make America great again and will continue to win against the Freedom Legislation.”
Carroll first publicly claimed in a 2019 New York magazine article that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.
She then filed a civil suit alleging rape and claiming that he had defamed her by denying her claims.
A judge found in May 2023 that Trump had sexually abused and defamed Carroll.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump called the civil suit against Carroll a “sham lawsuit” and claimed he had never met her.
“I will continue to fight with all my might against this weapon and this legal action against me, including the ridiculous claims of defamation,” Trump wrote in a post.
“This lawsuit is against the very United States of America and everything it stands for, and it should never be allowed to happen to any other president or candidate!” he said.
—CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger and Justin Papp contributed to this article.
