The Supreme Court on Monday said it would not hear an appeal by President Donald Trump of a New York federal court jury's verdict awarding the writer E. Jean Carroll $5 million for having been sexually abused and defamed by Trump. Trump separately was found civilly liable by another Manhattan federal court jury for having defamed Carroll.
She was awarded $83.3 million in that case, which Trump is appealing at a lower federal appeals court. The Supreme Court did not explain why it rejected Trump's request that it hear his appeal of the $5 million verdict from the 2023 trial, as is typical for such orders. None of the justices, three of whom were appointed to the high court by Trump, issued a written dissent to the decision.
Trump's lawyers said the trial judge in the case improperly allowed testimony from two other women who said they were targets of sexual misconduct by Trump, as well as the playing of the so-called "Access Hollywood" tape in which the president years ago is heard bragging about kissing and grabbing women.
Carroll, in a 2019 New York magazine article, first publicly alleged that Trump had raped her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s. She later filed a civil lawsuit alleging rape and that he had defamed her when he denied her claims. A judge in May 2023 found that Trump had sexually abused Carroll and defamed her.
CNBC has requested comment from Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, as well as from the White House and Trump's attorney in the Supreme Court appeal, Michael Martinich-Sauter. — CNBC's Kevin Breuninger contributed to this article. This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates