A federal appeals court in the United States has upheld a jury verdict that found President-elect Donald Trump guilty of sexually assaulting journalist and author Elizabeth Jean Carroll. The Guardian reports.
The appeals court said that the testimony of two other women who accused Trump of sexual harassment — businesswoman Jessica Leeds and former People magazine columnist Natasha Stoynoff, — helped establish a «repeated, idiosyncratic pattern of behavior» by Trump that is consistent with Carroll's allegations.
American journalist and author Elizabeth Jean Carroll filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump in 2019, following the publication of her memoirs. Trump claimed that her allegations of harassment were fabricated — allegedly to boost sales of the book. In response, she accused him of defamation.
In May 2023, a Manhattan federal jury found that the former president had indeed sexually harassed Jean Carroll in 1996 and awarded her $5 million in damages for defamatory public statements.
In January 2024, a Manhattan federal jury ordered Trump to pay journalist Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defamation.