US President Donald Trump asked the US Supreme Court on Monday (10) to review the $5 million civil case that found him guilty of sexual abuse and defamation against the columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Last year, a federal appeals court upheld the jury’s verdict and , ruling that the trial judge made no errors that warranted a new trial.
In June, Trump was unsuccessful in his attempt to have the appeal analyzed by the full court.
The US leader alleged that Judge Lewis Kaplan, in charge of the civil trial, made several errors when allowing the jury to hear testimony from two women who accused Trump of sexual assault years ago.
His lawyers also argued that the judge should not have allowed jurors to see the “Access Hollywood” recording of Trump in 2005 at an open microphone saying he groped and kissed women.
Carroll sued Trump, alleging that he was 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 all up to boost book sales.
“There were no eyewitnesses, no video evidence, no police report or investigation,” Trump told the Supreme Court in the appeal filed on Monday, as determined by the CNN.
“Instead, Carroll waited more than 20 years to falsely accuse Donald Trump, whom she opposes politically, until after he became the 45th president, when she could maximize political damage to him and profit for herself.”
The appeal has not yet been officially registered with the Supreme Court.
It remains to be seen whether the Supreme Court will take up the case, 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 by repeating his statements in 2022 and ordered him to pay $83 million in damages.
A federal appeals court panel upheld the award, finding it “reasonable given the extraordinary and atrocious facts” and rejected several of Trump’s legal challenges.
Among them, the appeals court concluded that Trump had previously waived any claim to presidential immunity and said last year’s Supreme Court ruling involving criminal cases did not change its view.
Trump requested that the full court review the case. The Justice Department filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the review of whether presidential immunity can be waived “from liability for civil damages based on official acts.”
