Appeals Court Denies Trump’s Attempt To Overturn E. Jean Carroll Ruling
A federal appeals court on Friday turned away an attempt by President Donald Trump to have a lower court’s ruling in his $5 million sexual abuse case involving former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll overturned.
The decision, first reported on the X platform by Politico’s Kyle Cheney, stemmed from a divided Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in which all 11 judges were involved en banc. The ruling left intact a three-judge decision on Dec. 30 to enforce the jury award.
Carroll, now 81, alleged that Trump assaulted her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan around 1996, and later defamed her in an October 2022 Truth Social post by calling her accusation a hoax.
In May 2023, a jury found that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll and defamed her by making false statements. However, the jury did not conclude that Trump had raped her, as she originally claimed.
In requesting reconsideration, Trump argued that the trial judge made a mistake by allowing jurors to view the 2005 Access Hollywood video, in which he boasted about his sexual behavior, along with what he described as a “pile-on” of prejudicial evidence involving allegations from two other women.
“Two of the Trump appointees, Judges Steven Menashi and Michael Park, on the bench dissent from the en banc decision, saying the judge shouldn’t have admitted ‘propensity’ evidence like the Access Hollywood tape,” Cheney reported on X.
One accuser, businesswoman Jessica Leeds, claimed Trump groped her on a plane in the late 1970s. The other, former People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff, alleged he forcibly kissed her at his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2005. Trump has denied both allegations.
Trump, who turns 79 on Saturday, is also appealing an $83.3 million jury verdict issued in January 2024, which found he defamed Carroll and harmed her reputation in June 2019 when he first denied her allegation about the incident at Bergdorf Goodman.
In that appeal, Trump contends that the U.S. Supreme Court’s July decision granting him broad criminal immunity also shields him from civil liability in Carroll’s case.
In his 2019 and 2022 statements denying Carroll’s accusations, Trump claimed she was “not my type” and alleged she fabricated the story to promote her memoir.
Trump could also face a third lawsuit from Carroll over a post he made to his Truth Social account during the Memorial Day observance a year ago.
“Happy Memorial Day to All, including the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country, & to the Radical Left, Trump Hating Federal Judge in New York that presided over, get this, TWO separate trials, that awarded a woman, who I never met before (a quick handshake at a celebrity event, 25 years ago, doesn’t count!), 91 MILLION DOLLARS for ‘DEFAMATION,’” Trump wrote.
“She didn’t know when the so-called event took place – sometime in the 1990’s – never filed a police report, didn’t have to produce the ‘dress’ that she threatened me with (it showed negative!), & sung my praises in the first half of her CNN Interview with Alison Cooper, but changed her tune in the second half – Gee, I wonder why (UNDER APPEAL!)? The Rape charge was dropped by a jury! Or Arthur Engoron, the N.Y. State Wacko Judge who fined me almost 500 Million Dollars (UNDER APPEAL) for DOING NOTHING WRONG, used a Statute that has never been used before, gave me NO JURY, Mar-a-Lago at $18,000,000 – Now for Merchan!” he added.
Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, confirmed to Newsweek that her client was considering yet another lawsuit.
“We have said several times since the last jury verdict in January that all options were on the table. And that remains true today. All options are on the table,” Kaplan said in a statement at the time.
They Poured Coca-Cola Over My Head in a Luxury Restaurant—Then the Most Feared Man in Chicago Walked In and Said, “I’m Here for My Wife.”
They Poured Coca-Cola Over My Head in a Luxury Restaurant—Then the Most Feared Man in Chicago Walked In and Said, “I’m Here for My Wife.”
They poured Coca-Cola over my head in the middle of one of Chicago’s most luxurious restaurants and laughed while I stood there, drenched and humiliated.
What they didn’t know was that the most feared man in the city was already on his way.
And when he finally walked through the doors, he said only six words:
“I’m here for my wife.”
What I remember most isn’t the freezing soda running through my hair.
It’s the silence that came afterward.
One moment, The Imperial Room was glowing beneath crystal chandeliers.
Soft violin music floated through the dining room while wealthy guests sipped expensive wine and quietly measured one another by watches, diamonds, and last names.
The next moment, I was standing in the center of the restaurant with Coca-Cola dripping down my face.
It soaked through my hair.
It ran beneath the collar of my white shirt.
And it spread across the black apron I had carefully ironed before starting my shift.
At table twelve, four young men exploded with laughter.
“Look at her face!”
Preston Hale shouted as he slammed his palm against the table.
He could barely catch his breath.
“Oh my God.”
“That was worth every penny.”
His friends laughed even harder.
To them, humiliating a waitress wasn’t cruelty.
It was entertainment.
And no one stopped them.
Not the banker sitting in the corner booth.
Not the state senator near the window.
Not even my manager, David, who stood less than ten steps away.
I curled my hands into fists beneath my soaked apron.
Every instinct in me wanted to grab the glass and throw it straight back at Preston.
I wanted to wipe that smug grin off his face.
But I didn’t move.
Because I had learned something about men like Preston Hale a long time ago.
Hurting people was never enough for them.
They needed to watch them break.
So I reached for a linen napkin.
I slowly wiped the soda from my cheek.
Then I looked Preston directly in the eyes.
“I’m sorry if I disturbed your evening.”
His smile widened.
He leaned back in his chair and glanced at his friends.
“Did you hear that?”
They were already laughing.
“She’s apologizing to us.”
Their laughter echoed across the restaurant.
And the worst part was that none of this had started with the drink.
It had begun almost an hour earlier.
The four of them had walked into The Imperial Room like the restaurant had been built for them.
Preston Hale was the son of one of Chicago’s most powerful construction tycoons.
His father’s influence reached from city contracts to private political dinners.
Bryce Whitman was heir to a chain of luxury car dealerships.
Cole Mercer stood to inherit a massive logistics empire.
Tyler Vaughn was the son of a state senator who loved television cameras almost as much as campaign donations.
They had money.
They had connections.
They had powerful fathers.
And they carried the kind of arrogance that came from growing up without ever hearing the word no.
The second Preston sat down, his eyes moved slowly over my uniform.
Then they moved over me.
He glanced at my name tag.
“Your name is Anna?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Smile.”
He didn’t ask.
He ordered.
“We’re celebrating.”
I gave him the professional smile I had perfected over years of working around wealthy men who believed money purchased obedience.
“Congratulations.”
Something in his face hardened.
Apparently, my smile wasn’t enthusiastic enough.
From that moment on, they turned me into their evening’s entertainment.
Every few minutes, one of them called me back to the table.
Sometimes they didn’t even need anything.
They simply wanted another opportunity to remind me that, in their eyes, I was beneath them.
Preston lifted an expensive bottle of wine.
“This probably costs more than your car.”
Bryce laughed.
Cole looked at me.
“Do you ever get to taste this stuff?”
“Or are you only allowed to carry it?”
Tyler leaned forward.
“How much does it cost to make a waitress keep quiet?”
The table erupted with laughter again.
I absorbed every insult.
I kept my posture straight.
I refilled their glasses.
I removed their plates.
And I refused to give them the reaction they wanted.
That only seemed to irritate Preston more.
Eventually, he lifted his glass of Coca-Cola.
Then he crooked one finger at me.
“Anna.”
I walked back to the table.
“Yes?”
He pointed toward himself.
“You forgot something.”
I looked over the table.
Their drinks were full.
Their plates had been cleared.
“What else can I bring you?”
Preston tilted his head.
His eyes were cold now.
Cruel.
“A better attitude.”
Before I could respond, he stood.
He raised the glass over my head.
Then he slowly poured the entire drink into my hair.
Ice struck my shoulder.
Cold soda streamed down my face.
It soaked through my uniform.
For half a second, the entire restaurant froze.
Then table twelve erupted.
Preston laughed so hard he nearly fell back into his chair.
Bryce slapped the table.
Cole pulled out his phone.
Tyler grinned like he had just witnessed the funniest thing in the world.
I turned toward David.
My manager.
Our eyes met.
For one second, I thought he might finally do something.
Instead, he looked away.
That hurt almost more than the humiliation itself.
I was still holding the napkin against my face when Madison, the hostess, suddenly hurried toward me.
She looked terrified.
“Anna…”
I turned toward her.
Her voice dropped to barely more than a whisper.
“A black Bentley just pulled up outside.”
My heart stopped.
Madison glanced toward the front windows.
Then she looked at the wedding ring on my finger.
She swallowed.
“The man who stepped out…”
Her eyes widened.
“Is that your husband?”
I never got the chance to answer.
The massive restaurant doors swung open.
The violinist stopped in the middle of a note.
Not gradually.
Instantly.
The entire room seemed to inhale at once.
A man stepped inside wearing a perfectly tailored charcoal suit.
He didn’t rush.
He didn’t need to.
His presence changed the temperature of the room before he said a single word.
Two men in dark suits entered several steps behind him.
David saw him first.
My manager’s face went completely white.
The banker in the corner booth straightened.
The senator near the window slowly lowered his glass.
Whispers died across the dining room.
And at table twelve, Preston Hale stopped laughing.
His smile vanished.
The glass slipped from his hand.
It struck the table.
It tipped over.
Then it shattered against the floor.
Because Preston knew exactly who had just walked through the door.
Everyone in Chicago knew.
The man in the charcoal suit scanned the restaurant once.
Then his eyes found me.
His expression changed.
Not dramatically.
That would have been easier.
Instead, his jaw tightened.
His gaze dropped to my soaked hair.
Then to the soda dripping from my uniform.
Then to the ice cubes scattered across the floor.
Finally, he looked at Preston.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
He crossed the dining room slowly.
Every step echoed through the silence.
When he finally reached me, he stopped at my side.
Preston’s face had gone pale.
For the first time that night, there was no arrogance in his expression.
Only fear.
My husband placed one hand gently against my back.
Then he looked directly at the four men who had spent the last hour humiliating me.
His voice was calm.
Almost quiet.
But every person in the restaurant heard him.
“I’m here for my wife.”
And suddenly, nobody at table twelve was laughing anymore.
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