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E. Jean Carroll fights Trump's Supreme Court bid against $83m defamation verdict

12d ← 3y

Summary

  • Author E. Jean Carroll alleges Donald Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in Manhattan in the spring of 1996; he denies ever meeting her.
  • In May 2023 a civil jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation and ordered him to pay Carroll $5 million.
  • The jury did not find rape because New York's penal law limits rape to penile penetration; Judge Lewis Kaplan has said Trump raped Carroll as the word is commonly understood.
  • In January 2024 a second jury awarded Carroll $83 million in damages for Trump's defamatory statements; lower courts have repeatedly upheld it.
  • Trump is asking the Supreme Court to hear his appeal of the $83 million award, arguing presidential immunity covers his 2019 statements; Carroll's lawyers filed opposition on 30 October 2026.
  • Trump agreed in September to stop fighting the first verdict after the Supreme Court again declined to hear his appeal.

Reactions

  • Carroll's lawyers told the justices they do not need to bail out a president from the consequences of his repeated litigation choices.
  • Trump's lawyers argued the nearly $100 million personal liability would chill the exercise of executive power by future presidents.
  • A spokesman for Trump's legal team called the cases a Democrat-funded travesty and the 'Carroll hoaxes', saying Trump will keep winning.
  • Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina said outside the courthouse that the jury rejected the rape claim, saying 'This was a rape claim... and the jury rejected that.'
  • Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan hailed the 2023 ruling, saying Carroll looks forward to receiving the $5 million the jury awarded her.
  • Republican senators Marco Rubio and Tommy Tuberville dismissed the case, with Rubio calling it 'a joke' and Tuberville saying it makes him want to vote for Trump twice.

Timeline newest first

  1. Judge Lewis Kaplan reminded jurors during the latest proceedings in the Carroll cases that Donald Trump raped E. Jean Carroll in 1996.
  2. E. Jean Carroll told the court she has endured years of attacks and threats, including threats of rape, and sleeps with a gun next to her bed.
  3. E. Jean Carroll's legal team filed opposition on 30 October to Donald Trump's request that the Supreme Court hear his appeal of the $83 million verdict.
  4. Trump's lawyers argued presidential immunity protects him from liability for his 2019 statements calling E. Jean Carroll a liar.
  5. Donald Trump agreed in September to stop fighting the first jury verdict after the Supreme Court again declined to hear his appeal.
  6. On 19 July 2023 Judge Lewis Kaplan upheld the $5 million verdict against Donald Trump, rejecting his claims that the award was excessive.
  7. Trump's lawyers had asked Kaplan to reduce the award to under $1 million or order a new trial on damages, then amended their appeal to add the ruling.
  8. Since the May 2023 verdict Trump has maintained he never encountered Carroll at the department store, and has countersued her for saying he raped her.
  9. A second defamation trial over statements Trump made as president and after the first trial was scheduled for January 2024.
  10. After the verdict Carroll added new claims to her pending defamation suit and sought an additional $10 million in compensatory damages.
  11. Judge Kaplan denied Trump's request for a new trial, calling his argument that the jury rejected rape 'entirely unpersuasive' and writing that the jury found Trump raped Carroll as commonly understood.
  12. Carroll amended her second defamation lawsuit to include Trump's comments about her during a CNN town hall.

Sources newest first

  • A federal judge has gone to great lengths to make clear Trump really did rape E. Jean Carrollmotherjones.com

    A Mother Jones article lays out how US District Judge Lewis Kaplan has repeatedly stated that Donald Trump raped E. Jean Carroll in 1996, though the jury found him liable only for sexual abuse because New York's penal code limits rape to penile penetration. The article notes Carroll's testimony about the assault and the fear and threats she has endured, and argues the narrower verdict reflects legal definitions rather than the facts.

  • E Jean Carroll fights Trump’s last-ditch push to dismiss $83m damages verdicttheguardian.com· 12d

    The Guardian reports that E Jean Carroll's legal team filed opposition on 30 October to Donald Trump's US supreme court appeal of the $83m damages a jury awarded her in January 2024, months after she won $5m in the sexual abuse and defamation case. Trump's lawyers argue presidential immunity covers his 2019 statements calling her a liar, while her lawyers say the presidency does not need the court's help.

  • Judge upholds the $5 million verdict against Trump in E. Jean Carroll's sex abuse and defamation casepbs.org· 3y

    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.

  • Judge in E. Jean Carroll Case: Yes, Donald Trump Is a Rapistnewrepublic.com· 3y

    The New Republic reports that a judge denied Donald Trump a new trial in the E. Jean Carroll case, with Judge Lewis Kaplan writing that the jury found Trump did 'rape' Carroll as commonly understood, despite the narrower New York penal law definition. The article also covers House Republicans' fossil-fuel-backed bill to block a climate emergency, Jamie Raskin's memo disputing IRS agents' Biden-corruption testimony, and Lauren Boebert trashing a Uvalde victim's memorial pamphlet.

  • Analysis | Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carrollwashingtonpost.com· 3y

    In a Washington Post analysis, Aaron Blake explains that Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected Donald Trump's bid for a new trial in the E. Jean Carroll civil case, writing that the jury found Trump raped her as the word is commonly understood, with the sexual abuse verdict differing only by New York's narrower legal definition. Kaplan called Trump's argument that the finding could rest on mere groping 'frivolous,' undercutting the talking point his lawyers and defenders have used, and Blake writes his appeal will apparently continue.

Background newest first

  • BOMBSHELL: A Columbia-Trained Psychologist Just Named Herself as ONE Of Trump’s Child Rape Victims With Trump’s Sexual Abuse of Her Starting at 8. 8-years-old.substack.com· 12d

    Dean Blundell's Substack reports that Dr. Larissa Portnoff, a Columbia-trained psychologist, said in a video posted November 1, 2026, that Donald Trump sexually abused her starting at age 8, and that she has reported threats and intimidation to authorities; Trump has not responded and the allegations are untested in court. The post also covers a House Judiciary Committee report compiling 11 women's accounts tying Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, the upheld E. Jean Carroll verdict, and a judge's toss of Trump's $10 billion suit against the Wall Street Journal.