Donald Trump on Thursday filed a notice that he will appeal this week’s federal civil jury verdict holding the former president liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll.
Trump’s lawyers also said in a court filing that they will ask the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to toss out the order that he pay $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages to Carroll in that case.
His lawyers filed their notice of appeal in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, less than an hour after the final judgment of the jury was entered on that court’s docket.
Carroll, 79, sued Trump for allegedly raping her in a dressing room in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s, and for defaming her in comments last fall when he denied her claims.
Trump, 76, denies ever seeing Carroll at the store. He said both that she had made up those allegations, and that she was “not my type”.
The trial jury on Tuesday did not find that there was a preponderance of evidence that Trump raped Carroll, but its finding that he likely sexually abused her was enough to sustain her civil claim for battery.
Trump is the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Trump during a New Hampshire town hall hosted by CNN on Wednesday night mocked Carroll, drawing laughter and cheers from the audience. Trump called Carroll a “whack job” during the town hall, and again claimed her account of the events was “fake”.
“She wasn’t raped, OK?” Trump said. “And I didn’t do anything else either, OK, because I don’t know who the hell she is”.
Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll, jury finds, awarding her $5 million (video)