The Supreme Court has denied President Donald Trump‘s appeal of the $5 million jury finding in the 2022 defamation case brought against him by the writer E. Jean Carroll.
The denial means the judgment against Trump stands and that he will have to pay it.
The writer E. Jean Carroll triumphed over President Trump on Monday when the Supreme Court refused to consider overturning a jury‘s verdict that he was liable for sexually abusing and defaming her.
The unanimous federal jury found that a preponderance of evidence supported Carroll‘s claim that Mr. Trump sexually abused her during a mid-1990s encounter in a New York City department store. Mr. Trump did not attend the 2023 civil trial, and his attorneys called no witnesses before the jury awarded Carroll $5 million.
Carroll, 79, alleged that Trump raped her at the Bergdorf Goodman department store across the street from Trump Tower in Manhattan sometime in 1996. According to Carroll, the two had a chance run-in at the store, where Trump was shopping for a gift for „a girl.“ She said he asked for her advice, and the two shopped together before he pushed her into a dressing room and assaulted her. Trump and his legal team insist that Carroll‘s allegations are fabricated, with the former president‘s initial reaction including an accusation that Carroll was motivated by wanting to sell copies of her book.
The jury found Trump liable for battery and defamation but did not find that he raped Carroll. The writer alleged Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in 1996.
Carroll testified, “I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen.” She said Trump “lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m here to try and get my life back.”