Trump Holds Rambling Press Conference After Lawyers Argue $5M Judgement in E. Jean Carroll Civil Case Was Built on 'Inflammatory' Evidence
Donald Trump went back to court for an appeal hearing regarding E. Jean Carroll's civil lawsuit.
Sept. 6 2024, Published 12:45 p.m. ET
It was a jam-packed day of legal drama for Donald Trump.
First, the ex-president, 78, headed back to court in Manhattan for an appeal hearing regarding the $5million in damages E. Jean Carroll, 80, was awarded in her civil lawsuit when Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting the former journalist.
Trump's legal team attempted to argue the verdict was based on "inflammatory" and "inadmissible" evidence, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
During a press conference held immediately after the hearing, Trump rambled as he repeated accusations about the trial being "rigged" by his political opponents and insisted he "never touched" Carroll.
Trump has been portrayed through 'South Park' character Mr. Garrison.
Meanwhile, Judge Juan Merchan announced the ex-president would not be sentenced in his separate hush-money case until after the November election. Trump was previously found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in May.
At the appeal hearing, Trump's lawyer John Sauer said in his opening statement: "This case is a textbook example of implausible allegations being propped up by highly inflammatory, inadmissible, propensity evidence."
Sauer then cited the infamous 2005 Access Hollywood tape, in which the ex-president bragged about being able to kiss and non-consensually touch women because he was "famous".
His appeal centers on the argument evidence used during trial should not have been allowed to be admitted, while other evidence the jury should have heard was not permitted in court.
Carroll was awarded $5million in damages.
Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, hit back and pointed out the fact Trump did not attend the trial nor did his defense team put forward any witnesses – compared to the 11 witnesses they called to the stand. She argued Trump "had every opportunity to rebut all this evidence, he did not".
Kaplan said: "E Jean Carroll brought this case because Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in 1996 in a dressing room in Bergdorf Goodman and then defamed her in 2022 by claiming that she was crazy and made the whole thing up.
"This is all about the assault. On top of all that, Donald Trump had every opportunity to take the stand and rebut all this evidence. He did not. He did not put on a single witness in the civil case. We put on 11.
"But what we did put in is the videotape of Access Hollywood where he basically says, 'I grab women by the p---- without their consent,' and then in his deposition that I took and asked him about that video – what did he say? He embraced it, your honor."
Trump's lawyers argued for a retrial while citing evidence they claimed should not have been admissible in court.
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Sauer branded Carroll's lawsuit a "quintessential he said, she said case" as he accused the columnist of being "funded and encouraged by President Trump's political enemies".
The appellate court judge interrupted Sauer and instructed him to stick to the evidence the appeal is based on.
The hearing heavily focused on the admissibility of testimony from Jessica Leeds, who claimed the ex-president groped her on an airplane in the 1970s.
Carroll's lawyers pointed out Trump did not attend the trial nor did his team call any witnesses to "rebut" their evidence.
Kaplan was asked to clarify how Leeds' claims fit the narrative Kaplan was attempting to present regarding Trump's pattern of behavior.
She said: "It was a crime then to grope someone on a plane, it is a crime today to grope someone on a plane."
Carroll's lawyer also argued the Access Hollywood tape, which was admitted as evidence, would have been better admitted as a confession.
The statement was seemingly a nod to the trial judge's rejection of Trump's motion for retrial, in which he told the ex-president the video "could have been regarded by the jury as a sort of personal confession as to his behavior".
This case is separate from a related defamation trial in which a jury awarded Carroll $83.3million in damages after finding Trump liable for defaming her in 2022.
He had repeated statements about the former columnist not being his "type" and suggested Carroll fabricated her allegations to sell more copies of her book.
As for his punishment in the criminal hush money and fraud case, Trump will now be sentenced on November 26 instead of September 18.
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