The 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that Trump had filed his arguments too late, rejecting his attempt to relitigate the verdict in Carroll's successful defamation suit. The ruling marks another setback in the president's legal efforts to overturn the jury's decision in a case that dates back to a 2019 filing.
Carroll won $83 million in damages after a jury found Trump liable for defamation and sexual abuse. Trump has consistently denied Carroll's allegations that he sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the early 1990s, and he had challenged her claims through public statements that the jury determined were defamatory.
Trump pursued several unsuccessful appellate strategies, including attempts to substitute the United States as a defendant in the case and to invoke presidential immunity. Judge Denny Chin, writing for the court, emphasized the procedural barriers to Trump's latest effort. "The fact of the matter is that no other defendant would be permitted to move to substitute the United States in his place, fifteen months after trial and the entry of judgment against him," Chin wrote. The court declined to convene en banc to reconsider the matter.
Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's attorney, welcomed the decision in a statement Wednesday. "We are pleased that the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has denied President Trump's petition for an en banc hearing in connection with the verdict from the second jury trial," Kaplan said. "E. Jean Carroll is eager for this case, originally filed in 2019, to be over so that she can finally obtain justice."
The White House responded to the ruling with a statement characterizing the legal proceedings as "unlawful, radical weaponization of our justice system." A White House spokesperson asserted that the "American People stand with President Trump in demanding an immediate end to the Witch Hunts" and labeled Carroll's allegations as "Hoaxes" and "false claims."
