Donald Trump has appeared before a federal appeals court in New York to try to overturn the verdict in the $83.3 million defamation lawsuit that found him liable for defaming journalist E. Jean Carroll.
The former president’s motorcade was seen pulling up to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan Friday morning, where attorneys presented oral arguments before a three-judge panel — all appointed to the position by Democratic presidents.
Wearing his signature navy suit and bright red tie, Trump entered the courtroom, walking directly past Carroll, who was seated in the front row of the public gallery.
It is the first time the presidential candidate has appeared in court since his assassination attempt in July and security was tight, with participants required to pass through metal detectors upon arrival.
All phones and other electronic devices were banned from the courtroom.
The Republican nominee is challenging the May 2023 verdict stemming from his alleged encounter in the mid-1990s with Carroll, who claimed Trump sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room and later defamed her when he publicly denied her allegations.
His lawyers argue that the trial court erred in allowing certain evidence such as the Access Hollywood tape as well as testimony from other women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct decades ago.
In his two-minute rebuttal, Trump lawyer John Sauer called the case “a classic example of implausible allegations supported by highly inflammatory and inadmissible evidence.”
He also reiterated Trump’s claims that he has “never even met” Carroll.
Addressing the panel, Sauer called the trial a “quintessential ‘he said, she said’ case that lacked “physical evidence,” “eyewitnesses” and police records.
Judge Denny Chin interrupted Sauer’s argument, noting that the type of evidence is difficult to overturn on appeal and asked why the verdict should be overturned.
Sauer questioned U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan’s decision to allow the release as evidence of the infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump is heard bragging about touching women’s genitals, and the testimony of Jessica Leeds, who accused Trump of groping her on an airplane in the late 1970s.
He also argued that the law that made Trump’s conduct a crime was not enacted until 15 years later.
But Judge Chin asked if Trump “put his hands under her skirt,” wouldn’t that count?
Saur reiterated that Leeds’ testimony should have been excluded.
Judge Chin pressed Saur further about the Access Hollywood tape, saying it was a “confession of a modus operandi.”
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, stood by the evidence presented at trial.
She insisted that Leeds’ testimony was admissible under a law in effect in 1979, and that the incident would therefore have been considered a crime, as trial judge Lewis Kaplan concluded.
The lawyer also argued that Trump has a “pattern” of attacking women who begins by “pleasantly chatting” with them before suddenly “pounce[ing]” on them and then tearing them down when he is accused.
A jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll, a journalist, in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s.
Jurors awarded the former Elle magazine columnist $2.02 million and $2.98 million, respectively, for her sexual assault and defamation claims.
Trump was separately convicted of defaming Carroll in a second trial in January this year, where a jury ordered him to pay her $83.3 million for defaming her and damaging her reputation in June 2019 after she first accused him of rape..
In their appeal, filed in November, Trump’s lawyers argued that he was denied a fair trial in New York. The former president said federal judge Lewis Kaplan “made errors” in his rulings during the May 2023 trial that “violated President Trump’s rights.”
Judge Kaplan’s decisions were “erroneous and prejudicial,” including allowing the jury to watch the infamous “Access Hollywood” videotape of Trump bragging about women while looking at their private parts.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stand during the second civil trial where E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her decades ago, at Manhattan federal court in New York, U.S., January 25, 2024
The filing states: “The improper verdict in this case is a serious miscarriage of justice, supported by political operatives long opposed to President Trump and his policies, based on false and unsubstantiated assertions.”
In other legal documents, Trump’s lawyers claimed that the attack on Carroll “never happened.”
He accused her of making the allegations because of her “significant political bias against him” and of “turning her allegations against (Trump) into a lifestyle and seeking to monetize her allegations as much as possible.”
Rather than being harmed by the accusations, Carroll’s reputation has been enhanced by her media interviews, Trump’s lawyers said.
Trump has also appealed the $83 million judgment, but no date has yet been set for oral arguments.
The former president is scheduled to be sentenced on September 18 in a New York state court for falsifying business records relating to a $130,000 cash payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump was convicted on 34 counts earlier this year after a blockbuster trial.
He also faces a $450 million fine after losing a civil fraud case brought by New York state prosecutors, as well as two possible criminal trials in Washington and Atlanta over election interference.
Neither trial is expected to take place before the election.
A third criminal case in Florida involving mishandling of classified documents was recently dismissed by a judge. His decision is under appeal by prosecutors.
Trump denies all allegations.
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