Trump’s Lawyer Claims E. Jean Carroll Verdict Influenced by Testimony of Other Accusers

By Jack Queen and Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK – A lawyer representing Donald Trump urged an appeals court to overturn a $5 million verdict that found Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. The attorney argued that testimony from two additional female accusers was improperly included during the trial.

Trump, who is running for president as a Republican, left his campaign activities to attend the hearing before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which addressed the validity of the civil jury verdict rendered in May 2023.

During the hearing, much of the discussion focused on whether the trial judge was correct to allow jurors to hear from two women who alleged that the former president had sexually mistreated them decades prior. Trump’s lawyer, John Sauer, also objected to the admission of a 2005 video in which Trump made graphic comments about women.

"This case is a textbook example of implausible allegations being supported by highly inflammatory, inadmissible propensity evidence," Sauer stated.

Dressed in a blue suit and red tie, Trump displayed little emotion throughout the proceedings but shook his head when Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, accused him of a pattern of approaching women before "pouncing" on them.

The panel of three judges, all appointed by Democratic presidents, did not provide a timeline for when a ruling would be issued.

The verdict arose from an incident in the mid-1990s involving Trump and Carroll in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan, in addition to a social media post from October 2022 in which Trump labeled Carroll’s claims a hoax. While the jury did not find Trump guilty of rape, they awarded Carroll $2.02 million for sexual assault and $2.98 million for defamation.

In a separate case, a jury in January ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her and harming her reputation after she initially accused him of rape in June 2019. Trump has continuously denied any wrongdoing.

In his denials related to Carroll’s lawsuits, Trump claimed he did not know her, that she was "not my type," and that she fabricated her story to promote a memoir. After the oral arguments, Trump suggested, without evidence, that a decades-old photo of him with Carroll—where he had once mistook her for his second wife—might be an artificially generated image.

"It’s a ridiculous case," Trump remarked. "It’s political interference, it’s a witch hunt."

Trump is also appealing the $83.3 million verdict against him. Carroll, now 80, attended the hearing dressed in a dark suit and navy blue hair ribbon, but she and her legal team did not speak to the media afterward.

Both trials were overseen by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who has no relation to Roberta Kaplan. Trump’s appeal contends that the judge incorrectly allowed testimony from Jessica Leeds, who alleged Trump groped her in the late 1970s, and Natasha Stoynoff, who said he forcibly kissed her in 2005.

Sauer characterized the case as “a quintessential he said, she said scenario” driven by a woman with apparent political motives—Carroll being a Democrat—and supported by Trump’s adversaries. However, Circuit Judge Denny Chin pointed out that overturning a jury’s verdict based on evidentiary rulings is a challenging task.

Carroll’s lawyer, Kaplan, argued that Trump has a pattern of "pleasant chatting" with women that escalates into inappropriate behavior, followed by forceful denials of any wrongdoing. Circuit Judge Susan Carney sought reassurance from Kaplan that jurors were not unduly influenced by Leeds’ testimony, should her claims be considered "too remote (and) too unlike the circumstances that your client alleged."

Kaplan assured the court, "I was going through the evidence at trial. It was incredibly powerful."

Carroll’s lawsuits are distinct from several criminal cases against Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to all allegations.

Recently, Trump was convicted in a Manhattan state court for falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election. The judge in that case postponed Trump’s sentencing, originally scheduled for September, to avoid any appearance of interference with the upcoming presidential election.