December 30, 2024

"The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a written opinion upholding the $5 million award that the Manhattan jury granted to E. Jean Carroll for defamation and sexual abuse...."

"Trump skipped the trial after repeatedly denying the attack ever happened. But he briefly testified at a follow-up defamation trial earlier this year that resulted in an $83.3 million award. The second trial resulted from comments then-President Trump made in 2019 after Carroll first made the accusations publicly in a memoir. In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the appeals court rejected claims by Trump’s lawyers that trial Judge Lewis A. Kaplan had made multiple decisions that spoiled the trial, including his decision to allow two other women who had accused Trump of sexually abusing them to testify. The judge also had allowed the jury to view the infamous 'Access Hollywood' tape in which Trump boasted in 2005 about grabbing women’s genitals because when someone is a star, 'you can do anything.'"

AP reports.

63 comments:

The Vault Dweller said...

They let you.

dreams said...

I don't believe it ever happened.

rhhardin said...

Due process isn't strict when it concerns women.

wendybar said...

Her day is coming when she will be outed just like the Duke Lacrosse liar. And look at all the Progressives who jumped over hoops to believe THAT one.

RCOCEAN II said...

Is anyone surprised? Our leftwing judges believe in two sets of laws, one for their friends and another for their enemies. The judge in the trial behaved in a biased and partisan manner, but was upheld because the Defendent was Trump. As shown by the DC circuit of appeals, they only care about the law when it helps the liberal/left.

n.n said...

At an undetermined time, without evidence, ...

The first rule of social liberal club. Also, take a knee to public threats, secular faith and prejudice, breathe and tax act, etc. The rotting apple.

rhhardin said...

It's a positive that the charge was battery and not rape. Someone was recognizing that feminine modesty no longer existed but let's pay the lady because men are still bad.

Jaq said...

I know. The press just lies about Trump. It's why they call him a liar all of the time, because it makes it hard for the normies, after they hear it, to sort out the real liars. "First lie wins" is a truism of propagandists.

GRW3 said...

Off to the Supreme Court...

loudogblog said...

"...the infamous 'Access Hollywood' tape in which Trump boasted in 2005 about grabbing women’s genitals because when someone is a star, 'you can do anything."

That's not what Trump said.

Readering said...

The trial at which he was a no show. He can now petition for rehearing by the entire Second Circuit. He can also petition to the USSC, but his lawyer (the one who penned the amicus last week on Tik Tok) would need to find a split in the circuits on a legal point that went against him buried in the very lengthy opinion.

PM said...

Trump's mouth is the shortest distance to his money.

Mary Beth said...

Exactly. While I don't doubt that he took great advantage of the fact that women threw themselves at him, it was still something the women were doing, not a confession that he was assaulting them.

n.n said...

Was it a confession, or was it exposure of social liberal club (e.g. neighbors daughters with "benefits", incest, pedophilia, grooming, abortion of "burden" of evidence, casting couches)?

Dixcus said...

They let you ... which is consent.

Dixcus said...

It doesn't matter if it happened or not. That's the upshot of this sort of "justice" in the United States. These idiotic rulings undermine all courts and lawyers and judges in the United States and demonstrate that anyone can make up any allegation and if you get the Democrat judge, you can literally steal money from Republicans.

If you want justice in the United States I suggest you buy a gun and learn how to use it.

Dixcus said...

Hopefully, somebody pushes her in front of a train.

Aggie said...

Outed how, I wonder? Absent a recording of her admitting she's lying, there's still no way to prove a negative. Once the courts allowed the accusation to stand, with no date, no defined crime scene, no corroborating witnesses, no evidence, aside from the accusation, then anything was possible, and conviction was made more probable by the jury's sympathetic tendencies.

n.n said...

Was it Carroll who said that women entertain rape.... rape-rape h/t Whoopi fantasies? Under Democratic law, it is illegal to discriminate against queer sexual orientations (e.g. transgenderism/homosexuality, sadomasochism). Trump should counter sue for the latter.

Jupiter said...

Just remember, that if there is a positive charge on one pole of the battery, there's a negative charge on the other one.

Dave Begley said...

I'll read the opinion latter, but this is hard to believe.

Elliott A. said...

If you look at his women, and listen to him say he can have almost any women he wants (when he was 30 years younger) then look at her....

Mike Petrik said...

Not likely.

deepelemblues said...

Trump will never pay a dime to this lying harridan.

Readering said...

May be true. Pretty sure the appeal was bonded. She'll collect on the bond and he'll pay bonding company?

Rabel said...

Two Obamas and a Biden. The Judges on the panel. This was about admissibility of evidence presented. The jury instructions didn't come up.

To be continued.

Leland said...

How many women do you know help out their married male friends select lingerie by trying it on and modeling for them at the department store?

How many department stores have you seen that would let that happen?

Lucien said...

Carroll brought a false rape claim against Trump — after the jury found that fact, how much reputation could she have had left to damage?

jim said...

Never believe what he says, he's joking all the time.

MSOM said...

The second trial has much stronger grounds for appeal. Particularly the judges instructions that the jury should treat the assault as an established fact because of the outcome of the first trial.

Shouting Thomas said...

Forging new frontiers in gold digging and extortion. There is so obviously a department within the DNC for the recruitment and payment of women ready and willing to accuse any and every Republican male candidate.

doctrev said...

GOOD. Keep pushing the lies, you imbeciles. The more President Trump is convinced you will hound him to death, the more likely he is to have you dragged from your homes and killed. Please please make this possible for my birthday.

Shouting Thomas said...

While I appreciate the sentiment, Trump (I think) doesn’t have any plans to do this. I think he intends to focus on what he can do to benefit the country.

doctrev said...

The globalists who remain in America are officially betting their lives on it, ST. Is it a good bet? Let me answer with a question: do you really think even a soft-hearted leader like President Trump will simply accept losing his fortune and freedom to a bunch of degenerate New York Epsteinites?

wildswan said...

Trump should organize a Rebel Alliance Ball for the resisters of the Deep State Regime, the Ball to be held on January 21st along with all the other Inaugural Balls. (There are several.) He could invite the J6ers whom he could pardon right after he is inaugurated and the prolifers who were imprisoned in DC for five years for trying to bring attention to violations of the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act
Then:
The Trump family members who all suffered for supporting Trump's efforts to restore honest elections and free speech.
The reporters who lost jobs for being honest like Catherine Herridge or who had their story squelched like Miranda Devine.
The lawyers who lost their jobs for representing Trump.
The IT people, starting with Elon Musk, who were deemed unworthy to be on social media and were attacked in various ways - overcharged, demonitized, mobbed, shadow banned, etc.
The Professors, like Jordan Peterson, who were forced out for opposing mandatory speech codes
The Jewish students who were assaulted on campuses for trying to go to classes, were disregarded by University administrations and who are now suing to bring a measure of justice to the campus.
Representatives of the Thin Blue Line (Police, Firemen, Border Patrol) who were physically harmed in various kinds of "mostly peaceful protests" supported by Kamala Harris among others.
Representatives of the parents who worked to reform school boards and were investigated by the FBI. Ditto for those who attend traditional Catholic Masses and were investigated by the FBI.
Representatives of parents whose children were murdered by illegal criminal aliens who arrived across Biden's open border and lived at taxpayrs expense till jailed where they live at taxpayers expense.
Riley Gaines and others who spoke up on behalf of women in sports and were abused and physically shoved about.
The podcasters and social media people who upheld free speech in face of ugly underhanded opposition - like our own Althouse and like Joe Rogan
And so on. It's a long list, isn't it?




wildswan said...

Trump himself obviously belongs at the Rebel Alliance Ball; the President goes around to all the balls so he'd be there.

Shouting Thomas said...

The Carroll suit is really just a mosquito bite. Trump is overall winning the lawfare battle. The real, underlying battle on the horizon is with the DNC/FBI/CIA cartel, the Deep State. Can he exert civilian control?

Readering said...

He'll pay less for this loss than his library will gain from ABC in his libel settlement. The second Carroll suit will have more bite.

doctrev said...

Thomas, I don't think "control" is what is needed here. The FBI is basically an enemy organization, much more so than during the OKC retaliation for Waco and Ruby Ridge. The CIA is incredibly vulnerable to overt action, as most paramilitary desk jockeys are. Salt the earth.

Maybe the judges will quiet down after that, but I doubt it. Then again, reversing Marbury vs Madison at gunpoint would be a fine service from President Trump.

Wince said...

Didn’t AP defame Trump with that misquote?

Christopher B said...

Good point He's +10 million.

Iman said...

Jim admits to his bumfuzzlement.

Danno said...

E. Jean needs a feet-first visit through an industrial woodchipper, not a bullet.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

I thought it was a solid rule that you couldn’t bring in people to testify in a case that had no material testimony to offer to the case at hand. I guess it’s because this is a civil case and rules are different. Still. It has shades of a kangaroo court.

chuck said...

Trump boasted in 2005 about grabbing women’s genitals

I don't recall him boasting about doing it, he just commented about the nature of women. The observation is hardly original with Trump, indeed, many TV executives seem to have taken it to heart and acted on it. The National Lampoon had their own take back in Dec 1979.

Leland said...

Unlike the opportunist Duke Lacrosse accuser, Carroll is a dedicated partisan. Unless she becomes a Mark Felt, I don’t think she’ll ever admit the truth. First of all, she’s made more money than Felt did by making the claims. Second, she’s and her Hampton friends are giggling at how they screwed Trump literally and his supporters figuratively. They get off on this.

Mason G said...

"I think he intends to focus on what he can do to benefit the country."

He doesn't have to do everything personally, he can delegate some jobs to others.

Mason G said...

Thinking about this some more, why couldn't Trump assemble a group of ten people, each tasked with developing a process for dealing with the lawfare that he's been forced to endure. Once a week, they'll all be called together, their progress will be evaluated and the person with the least practical approach will be dismissed. It could even be televised, they could call it "Payback Apprentice".

People would pay to watch, I bet the ratings would be yuge.

The Godfather said...

"They let you do it". Now, I can understand that if a celebrity said that a woman will allow a celebrity to grab her by the pussy, and he's accused of doing just that, it would be admissible evidence, i.e., that he grabbed the plaintiff's pussy because he thought he could get away with it, but she did object. But it wouldn't be an admission that he did this either as a general practice or in a particular instance.

Lazarus said...

Felt had a family, they wanted money for the grandkids' college. Woodward and Bernstein also knew Felt was Deep Throat, so the truth would have come out at some point anyway. Maybe Carroll is such a loose cannon that she'll eventually let something slip. Otherwise, she won't crack. I'm curious, though, about the women she got to back up her story -- the ones who said Carroll called her after the alleged incident. Are they going to stick with the story forever or might they have qualms about it years down the road?

Lazarus said...

If you feel a court judgment wrongly went against you and your accuser is lying, are you now not allowed to say that publicly -- or does that only apply to Donald Trump?

Mason G said...

"Now, I can understand that if a celebrity said that a woman will allow a celebrity to grab her by the pussy, and he's accused of doing just that, it would be admissible evidence..."

Sorry- I don't see any evidence there. People often exaggerate when they're making a point, there's even a word for it. I'm sure most people have heard someone say "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse"- doesn't mean the person saying it could (or would even try to) actually eat a horse.

Leland said...

Agree about the Felt’s financial incentives. It was what I meant, but you expressed much better. You bring up a good point about Carroll’s friends and particularly I think at least one of them have children. They may talk sometime in the future. Not holding my breath.

boatbuilder said...

That was my thought. Actual malice. Boom.

boatbuilder said...

That's the second case. This one was the first one, where she claimed he raped her at Bergdorf's. The second was the defamation case against him for saying that she lied. That's still being appealed.

walter said...

Law and Order script writers better get a cut.

walter said...

Never occurred to them to write rape is sexy. Truly outside the box stuff.

Jim at said...

Again, anybody who believes this story needs their head examined.

There is no way in hell Donald Trump would be able to saunter into a high-end, Manhattan department store without being mobbed. He was one of the most famous people in the world.

And then molest/rape someone in a dressing room? And nobody notices?

It's bullshit. It's always been bullshit. It will always BE bullshit.

walter said...

Deflection attempt wins you a free weekend at The Mouse House! She put a new wing on it for visitors and wine storage.

Dave Begley said...

Okay, I read some of the opinion but I’m wondering about the assignments of error. I might go into PACER and read Trump’s brief.

Dave Begley said...

I would have assigned as error the verdict. The facts were unbelievable.

Narayanan said...

is there still 'scene of crime' for jury to look around as in TV dramas?
had they done so would verdict be different?

Boaz, Jr. said...

Without Carroll specifying a precise calendar date for the alleged violent rape, Trump had no opportunity to offer up an alibi. Trump has multiple homes and business properties outside NY, so be likely could prove he was not in NY on the date of the alleged encounter. There should have been no case without a dare certain. In any event, the burden was entirely on Carroll to prove it happened, and aside from no memory of the date, she also had no credible evidence to support her account , despite it supposedly taking place in a busy store with customers and salespdople a few steps from where the rape occurred. Note, too, Trump was one of the top targets in the world for paparazzi who would have been shadowing him as he browsed lingerie with a woman not his wife. In other words, short of being high on mind-altering substances, no sane person would have chosen that location to rape someone since the odds of apprehension and humiliation eere enormous in the moddle of Bergdorf..