A federal appeals court has upheld a jury's finding in a civil case that former President Donald Trump sexually abused a columnist in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the $5 million award granted to E. Jean Carroll for defamation and sexual abuse.
During the trial, Carroll testified that Trump, in a turn of events, escalated a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack after they entered the store's dressing room. Trump, who denied the attack ever occurred, did not attend the trial. However, he briefly testified at a subsequent trial earlier this year, which resulted in an $83.3 million award. This second trial stemmed from comments made by then-President Trump in 2019 after Carroll publicly accused him in a memoir.
