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US President Donald Trump on Monday asked the Supreme Court to review the $5 million civil case that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. A federal appeals court had affirmed the jury’s verdict and judgment against Trump last year, ruling that the trial judge made no errors warranting a new trial. This latest move follows Trump's unsuccessful effort in June to have the appeal reviewed by the full bench of judges.
Trump has claimed Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw the civil trial, made numerous errors by allowing the jury to hear testimony from two women who alleged Trump sexually assaulted them years ago.
His lawyers also said the judge should not have let the jurors see the “Access Hollywood tape,” which captured Trump in 2005 on a hot mic saying he gropes and kisses women.
Carroll sued Trump alleging he sexually assaulted her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s and defamed her when in 2019 he denied the assault, said she wasn’t his type, and claimed she made it up to boost sales of a book.
“There were no eyewitnesses, no video evidence, and no police report or investigation,” Trump told the Supreme Court in the appeal filed Monday. “Instead, Carroll waited more than 20 years to falsely accuse Donald Trump, who she politically opposes, until after he became the 45th president, when she could maximize political injury to him and profit for herself.”
The appeal has not yet been formally docketed at the Supreme Court.
Whether the Supreme Court takes up the case is yet to be seen, but it likely won’t be the last time the justices are asked to review litigation involving Carroll.
A different jury found Trump liable for defaming Carroll for repeating his statements in 2022 and ordered him to pay $83 million in damages.
