Trump Loses to Sexual Assault Victim... Files Another Appeal

Lost in Defamation Lawsuit Filed by Fashion Columnist

Former U.S. President Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against a fashion columnist who claimed he sexually assaulted her, but lost the case and has since appealed.

According to major foreign media on the 10th (local time), Trump filed an appeal after losing the defamation damages claim lawsuit against E. Jean Carroll (79), a former columnist for the fashion magazine Elle.

[Photo by Yonhap News]

Carroll revealed in 2019, while Trump was in office, that she had been sexually assaulted by him in the past.

She claimed that Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in Manhattan, New York, in 1996, and after the New York State Legislature passed a special law allowing sexual assault victims to file civil lawsuits within one year regardless of the statute of limitations, she filed a civil lawsuit against former President Trump.

Regarding this case, a jury at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in May that Carroll did not present evidence proving sexual assault, but found that the claims that Trump sexually harassed and assaulted Carroll were consistent with the facts. The jury ordered Trump to pay $5 million (approximately 6.6 billion KRW) in damages.

In response, Trump argued that the jury only acknowledged sexual harassment and not sexual assault, and filed a lawsuit claiming that Carroll damaged his reputation by continuing to mention sexual assault in media interviews after the verdict.

On the 7th, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed former President Trump's claim.

Judge Kaplan stated that even if the harm implicitly acknowledged by the jury in May did not legally constitute sexual assault in the narrow sense, it did qualify as sexual assault in the commonly understood sense, which was the reason for dismissal. He also pointed out that "sexual abuse and sexual assault are both serious sex crimes."

Meanwhile, Carroll has also filed an additional lawsuit claiming that Trump defamed her. After losing the civil lawsuit regarding the sexual assault allegations in May, Trump called Carroll a "crazy person" in media interviews, denied the sexual assault, and claimed that the civil trial he lost was "rigged."

With the U.S. presidential election next year approaching, Trump is leading the Republican Party, but besides the ongoing lawsuits with Carroll, he faces multiple judicial risks. Recently, he was indicted for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results, and three criminal cases are pending in court. Additionally, a civil lawsuit filed by New York State accusing him and his family of fraud in their business operations is also underway.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.