Former U.S. President Donald Trump has suffered another major legal blow after a federal appeals court in New York on Monday upheld an $83.3 million defamation judgment in favor of writer E. Jean Carroll.
The three-judge panel rejected Trump’s claim of presidential immunity, ruling that he had “failed to identify any grounds” to overturn the verdict. The court described the jury’s decision as “fair and reasonable” given the “unique and egregious facts of this case.”
The case stems from Trump’s repeated denials of Carroll’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. While in office and afterward, Trump dismissed Carroll’s accusations as lies and a hoax, insisting he had “never met her.”
Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, testified that Trump’s statements triggered a torrent of online harassment, including thousands of threatening messages. The appellate judges noted that his remarks, viewed by as many as 104 million people, led to “hund
