A federal appeals court has upheld a civil jury's finding that US President Donald Trump must pay $US83.3 million ($126m) to E Jean Carroll for his repeated social media attacks and public statements against the writer after she accused him of sexual assault.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Mr Trump's appeal of the defamation award, calling the jury's damages awards "fair and reasonable".
A three-judge panel, citing hundreds of death threats Ms Carroll faced, said the case record supported the trial judge's "determination that 'the degree of reprehensibility' of Mr Trump's conduct was remarkably high, perhaps unprecedented".
Mr Trump argued the damages were unreasonably excessive, particularly a $US65 million ($98m) punitive damages award, and pushed for a new trial after the Supreme Court expanded presidential immunity.
But the appeals court roundly rejected those arguments, writing that Mr Trump's "extraordinary and unprecedented" broadsides against Ms Carroll, 81, justified the steep award, given "the unique and egregious facts of this case".
Lawyers for Mr Trump responded through a spokesperson to a request for comment by calling for "an immediate end to the political weaponisation of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes".
The case is likely headed to the US Supreme Court.
Trump's threats 'recklessly indifferent', court finds
In its ruling, the 2nd Circuit said there is "ample evidence" that Mr Trump was recklessly indifferent to Ms Carroll's health and safety.
That was after he castigated "Ms Carroll as a politically and financially motivated liar", "insinuating she was too unattractive for him to have sexually assaulted" and would "pay dearly" for speaking out.
Ms Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, welcomed the decision, saying in a statement that the appeals court affirmed that Ms Carroll was telling the truth, and that Mr Trump was not.
Noting the threats to her client, Ms Kaplan said they "look forward to an end to the appellate process".
At trial, Ms Carroll testified she feared for her safety after receiving hundreds of death threats and losing her decades-long career at Elle magazine.
The ruling centred on the second — and far more expensive — of two defamation awards issued to Ms Carroll over Mr Trump's years long attacks on her character. It began after she accused him in her 2019 memoir of sexually assaulting her decades earlier in a Manhattan department store.
In her memoir and again at a 2023 trial, Ms Carroll described how a chance encounter with Mr Trump at Bergdorf Goodman's Fifth Avenue in 1996 started with the two flirting as they shopped, then ended with a violent struggle inside a dressing room.
Ms Carroll said Mr Trump slammed her against a wall, pulled down her tights and forced himself on her.
At the initial trial, a jury found Mr Trump liable for sexual abuse, but concluded he hadn't committed rape as defined under New York law.
Mr Trump repeatedly denied the encounter took place and accused Ms Carroll of making it up to help sell her book.
He also said Ms Carroll was "not my type".
The 2023 jury awarded Ms Carroll $US5 million ($7.5m) to compensate her for both the alleged attack and statements Mr Trump made, after his first presidency ended, denying that it had happened.
After that first verdict, the court conducted a second trial with a new jury for the sole purpose of deciding damages for statements Mr Trump made attacking Ms Carroll's character and truthfulness while he was president in 2019.
Mr Trump skipped the first trial but attended the second, which took place during his 2024 presidential run.
He portrayed the lawsuit as part of a broader effort to smear him and prevent him from regaining the White House.
His lawyers complained that the judge, in setting rules for the damages trial, had barred Mr Trump and his defence team from claiming before the jury that he was innocent.
The judge said that issue had been settled by the first jury and didn't need to be revisited.
On Monday, the appeals court agreed, saying the trial judge "did not err in any of the challenged rulings and that the jury's duly rendered damages awards were reasonable in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts of this case".
The 2nd Circuit noted that Mr Trump continued his attacks against Ms Carroll for at least five years, making them "more extreme and frequent" as the trial approached.
"He also continued these same attacks during the trial itself," the appeals court said.
"In one such statement, issued two days into the trial, Trump proclaimed that he would continue to defame Carroll 'a thousand times'."
AP
