Supreme Court rejects Trump's appeal of $5 million E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse and defamation verdict

The Supreme Court on Monday said it would not hear an appeal by President Donald Trump of a New York federal court jury's verdict awarding the writer E. Jean Carroll $5 million for having been sexually abused and defamed by Trump.

Trump separately was found civilly liable by another Manhattan federal court jury for having defamed Carroll. She was awarded $83.3 million in that case, which Trump is appealing at a lower federal appeals court.

The Supreme Court did not explain why it rejected Trump's request that it hear his appeal of the $5 million verdict from the 2023 trial, as is typical for such orders. None of the justices, three of whom were appointed to the high court by Trump, issued a written dissent to the decision.

Trump's lawyers said the trial judge in the case improperly allowed testimony from two other women who said they were targets of sexual misconduct by Trump as well as the playing of the so-called "Access Hollywood" tape in which the president years ago is heard bragging about kissing and grabbing women.

"Today's Supreme Court decision affirms once and for all the jury's unanimous verdict that President Donald J. Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll," Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement

"His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today's ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions," Kaplan said.

A spokesperson for Trump's legal team said in a statement following the decision that "The American People stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes. President Trump will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare, as he continues to focus on his mission to Make America Great Again."

Carroll, in a 2019 New York magazine article, first publicly alleged that Trump had raped her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s.

She later filed a civil lawsuit alleging rape and that he had defamed her when he denied her claims.

A judge in May 2023 found that Trump had sexually abused Carroll and defamed her.

Trump, in a Truth Social post Monday, called Carroll's civil suit against him a "fake case" and claimed to have never met her.

"I will continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength," Trump posted.

"This Case is really against the United States of America, and all it stands for, and should never be allowed to happen to another President, or Candidate to be!" he said.