(GoRealNewsNow.com) – On Wednesday, a judge in Manhattan turned down Donald Trump’s request for a new trial in the sexual abuse case brought by E. Jean Carroll. The jury had previously awarded Carroll, a columnist, $5 million in damages.
Judge Lewis Kaplan disagreed with the former president’s request for a retrial, stating, “there was ample, arguably overwhelming evidence, that Mr. Trump forcibly digitally penetrated Ms. Carroll, thus fully supporting the jury’s sexual abuse finding.”
Trump, the 45th president, wanted a new trial because he believed the amount of money awarded by the jury was too high. He argued this point on the grounds that he was not found liable for rape.
However, Judge Kaplan disagreed with Trump, stating that the money awarded was not excessively high. He said it “did not deviate materially from reasonable compensation so as to make it excessive.” Kaplan further explained that the jury’s decision was not incorrect or unjust.
E. Jean Carroll, who is 79 years old, filed a lawsuit against Trump in 2022. She alleged that he attacked her in a fitting room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s.
A jury in Manhattan agreed with Carroll in April, ruling that Trump was responsible for sexually abusing the “Ask E. Jean” columnist. They also found that he defamed her by denying her allegations in an extended post on his social media platform, Truth Social, in October 2022.
Carroll has another lawsuit ongoing, in which she claims Trump ruined her reputation as a journalist by denying that he knew her after she made her allegations public in 2019.
Trump expressed his intent to appeal the verdict two days after the trial ended. Then, on Wednesday, he stated that he also planned to contest Judge Kaplan’s refusal of his request for a new trial.
Upon the court’s refusal of Trump’s appeal, Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan stated, “Now that the court has denied Trump’s motion for a new trial or to decrease the amount of the verdict, E. Jean Carroll looks forward to receiving the $5 million in damages that the jury awarded her.” She added that Carroll is keen to continue the fight in court, with the next trial set to begin on January 15, 2024.
