Trump loses appeal in ‘sexualized acts’ case

The US Federal Court of Appeal has upheld a civil trial court’s decision on Donald Trump’s liability in the case of sexual assault against journalist Jean Carroll. Reuters reported this on Monday, December 30.

The appeals court also upheld the trial jury’s decision that Trump must pay the victim $5 million in damages for character assassination and sexualized assault.

According to the agency, three appeals court judges unanimously rejected Trump’s application. He argued that the trial judge wrongly allowed the jury to hear evidence of his past sex crimes, which the newly elected president believed could affect the fairness of the trial and verdict.

The court noted that the evidence presented, including the Access Hollywood video of Trump flaunting his sexual prowess, indicated a “repeated, distinct pattern of behavior” consistent with the allegations made by Jean Carroll. The video received widespread publicity during the 2016 presidential campaign.

At Trump’s trial in 2023, Carroll testified that their meeting in the spring of 1996 was supposed to be friendly but escalated into a physical attack.

In May 2023, a Manhattan federal jury found Trump guilty of sexually assaulting journalist and writer Jean Carroll.

Let’s remember that Carroll first spoke about what happened in the summer of 2019. His book says that he met Trump at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York in 1996. A friendly conversation began between them, then invited Trump asked her to try on the underwear, which she considered a gift for another woman. According to Carroll, Trump accompanied her to the fitting room, where she was raped.