Donald Trump appeared at a federal appeals court in New York as he seeks to overturn the verdict in the $83.3million lawsuit that found him liable for defaming journalist E. Jean Carroll.
The former president’s motorcade was seen pulling up to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan Friday morning where attorneys presented oral arguments before a panel of three judges – all of whom were appointed to the bench by Democratic presidents.
Dressed in his trademark navy suit and bright red tie, Trump entered the courtroom walking straight past Carroll, who was sitting in the front row of the public gallery.
It marks the presidential candidate’s first time in court since his assassination attempt in July and security was tight, with attendees required to go through metal detectors upon arrival.
All phones and other electronics were banned from the courtroom.
The Republican nominee is contesting the May 2023 verdict stemming from his alleged mid-1990s encounter with Carroll, who claimed Trump sexually assaulted her at Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room and later defamed her when he publicly denied her allegations.
Donald Trump appeared before a federal appeals court in New York on Friday to hear oral arguments in his bid to overturn the verdict that found him liable for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll (pictured on Friday)
Protesters holding up placards reading ‘guilty’, ‘rapist’ and ‘felon’, had fathered outside the Manhattan federal appeals court on Friday ahead of the hearing
His attorneys argue that that the trial court erred by allowing in certain evidence such as the infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump can be heard boasting about grabbing women’s genitals, as well as testimony from other women who have accused him of sexual misconduct decades ago.
In his two-minute rebuttal, Trump’s attorney John Sauer called the case ‘a textbook example of implausible allegations being propped up by highly inflammatory, inadmissible’ evidence.
He also reiterated Trump’s claims from his testimony that he has never ‘even met’ Carroll.
Addressing the panel, Sauer called the lawsuit a ‘quintessential ‘he said, she said’ case’ that was lacking in ‘physical evidence’, ‘eyewitnesses’, and police records.
Judge Denny Chin interrupted Sauer’s argument, noting the type of evidence is difficult to overturn on appeal and asked him why the verdict should be thrown out.
Sauer questioned US District Judge Lewis Kaplan’s decision to allow the infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump can be heard bragging about grabbing women’s genitals, and testimony from Jessica Leeds, who accused Trump of groping her on a plane in the late 1970s, to be heard as evidence.
He also argued that the statute that meant Trump’s conduct was a crime wasn’t enacted until 15 years later.
But Judge Chin asked if Trump ‘put his hands up her skirt’, wouldn’t that count?
Saur reiterated that Leeds’s evidence should have been excluded.
Judge Chin pressed Saur further about the Access Hollywood tape and said that it was a ‘confession about a modus operandi’.
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan stood by the evidence presented at the trial.
She insisted that Leeds’s testimony was admissible under a law that was in effect in 1979, thus the incident would have been considered a crime, as the trial judge, Lewis Kaplan, concluded.
The lawyer also argued that Trump has a ‘pattern’ of attacking women that begins with ‘pleasantly chatting’ them up before suddenly ‘pouncing’ on them and subsequently trashing them when he is accused.
Jurors awarded the former Elle magazine advice columnist a respective $2.02million and $2.98million for her sexual assault and defamation claims.
Trump was separately found liable for defaming Carroll in a second trial that took place in January this year where a jury ordered him to pay her $83.3million for having defamed her and damaging her reputation in June 2019 after she first accused him of rape.
In their appeal, filed in November, Trump’s lawyers claimed he couldn’t get a fair trial in New York. The former president claimed that federal judge Lewis Kaplan ‘erred’ in rulings during the May 2023 trial that ‘violated President Trump’s rights’.
The rulings from Judge Kaplan were ‘flawed and prejudicial’ including allowing the infamous ‘Access Hollywood’ tape to be played to the jury – Trump could be heard bragging about women by their private parts.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump testifies as he takes the stand during the second civil trial where E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her decades ago, at Manhattan Federal Court in New York City, U.S., January 25, 2024
The filing stated: ‘The improper verdict in this case is a gross miscarriage of justice, backed by political operatives long opposed to President Trump and his politics, based on false and unsupported claims’
In other legal filings, Trump’s lawyers claimed the attack on Carroll ‘never occurred’.
He accused her of making the claims because of her ‘significant political bias against him’ and ‘turned her allegations against (Trump) into a lifestyle and sought to monetize her allegations as much as possible’.
Rather than being harmed by the claims, Carroll’s standing has improved due to her media interviews, Trump’s lawyers claimed.
Trump is also appealing the $83million judgment but no date has yet been set for oral argument.
The former president is due to be sentenced on September 18 at a state court in New York for falsifying business records relating to a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts earlier this year after a blockbuster trial.
He is also facing a $450million fine after losing a civil fraud case brought by New York state prosecutors, and two possible criminal trials in Washington and Atlanta over election interference.
Neither of the trials are expected to take place before the election.
A third criminal case in Florida related to mishandling classified documents was recently thrown out by a judge. Her decision is being appealed by prosecutors.
Trump denies all the allegations.