New York.- Detouring from the campaign trail to a courtroom, Donald Trump watched in silence today as his lawyers fought to overturn a verdict in which the former president was found guilty of sexual assault and defamation.
The Republican nominee and his accuser, writer and columnist E. Jean Carroll, sat at tables about 15 feet apart in federal appeals court. Trump did not acknowledge or look at Carroll as he passed her directly on his way in and out of the courtroom, but he shook his head at times, including when Carroll’s lawyer said he had sexually assaulted her client.
Trump’s attorney, D. John Sauer, told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that the civil trial in Carroll’s lawsuit was marred by inadequate evidence.
“This case is a classic example of implausible allegations supported by highly inflammatory and inadmissible evidence,” Sauer said, noting that the jury was allowed to consider elements such as the infamous “Access Hollywood” recording in which Trump bragged years ago about groping several women on the genitals.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, told the justices that the evidence at issue was adequate and that the two-week trial had presented extensive evidence of Carroll’s claim that Trump assaulted her decades ago in the dressing room of an upscale department store.
“E. Jean Carroll filed this lawsuit because Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in 1996 in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman and then defamed her in 2022 by saying she was crazy and made it all up,” Kaplan said.
Carroll, standing next to Kaplan outside the courtroom after the appearance, declined to comment.
Trump left the court in a motorcade, then delivered a lengthy tirade against the case at Trump Tower, again saying that Carroll — and other women who have accused him of sexual assault — were making it all up.
“It’s so false. It’s a made-up story, put together by somebody, I think, initially, with the sole intention of promoting a book,” Trump said.
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