A few weeks before Donald Trump took office as US president, an appeals court upheld his fine for sexually assaulting journalist E. Jean Carroll.
Trump could not substantiate his accusation that there were procedural errors at the lower court, the three-judge panel of the responsible federal appeals court ruled on Monday.
Found guilty in a civil case last year
A New York jury convicted Trump last year after a nine-day civil trial of sexually assaulting Carroll in a Manhattan department store in 1996. Trump was ordered to pay the former columnist for the women’s magazine “Elle” $2 million (nearly two million euros) for the assault and another three million dollars for defamation.
Trump denied the charges and appealed after his conviction. He argued that two women who also said they were victims of Trump’s sexual assault should not have been heard as witnesses in the civil case.
Allegation of rape in the locker room
Carroll accuses Trump of raping her in a dressing room at the luxury Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York in 1996. The longtime Elle magazine columnist first made her accusation public in 2019, when Trump was president. The Republican then accused Carroll of lying and said she wasn’t his “type.” In the years that followed, Trump repeatedly accused the journalist of fabricating the sexual attack. He also called Carroll a “crazy.”
Further procedures were cancelled
In another defamation lawsuit, the jury in January ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million. The former and future American president has also appealed this verdict.
The legal battle with Carroll is not Trump’s only legal problem. However, two federal legal proceedings against Trump for election manipulation and storing classified government documents at his private Mar-a-Lago residence were dropped following Trump’s victory in the presidential election on November 5. In justification, Special Investigator Jack Smith pointed to the US federal judiciary’s practice since the Watergate scandal of not prosecuting sitting presidents.
First convicted felon in the White House
In addition, Trump was convicted in May of falsifying company records to cover up a hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump is the first politician in American history to enter the White House as a convicted criminal. In mid-December, the judge responsible refused to stop the proceedings, but postponed the announcement of the verdict indefinitely.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
