A federal judge has upheld the $5 million jury verdict against Donald Trump in E. Jean Carroll's sexual abuse and defamation case, rejecting his claim that the award was excessive; Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote that the jury found Trump did rape Carroll in the everyday sense of the word, though not under New York Penal Law's narrow definition. Trump, who denies ever meeting Carroll and has countersued her, faces a second defamation trial in January 2024.