Trump in court as his lawyers make appeals plea to have his $5m E Jean Carroll verdict sent back for new trial

Former president Donald Trump appeared in a New York City courthouse Friday morning as his lawyer argued that the evidence used in theE Jean Carroll sexual abuse case should be set aside.

At the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, attorney John Sauer spent approximately 10 minutes asserting that the evidence used in the case where Trump was found liable of sexual abuse was “highly inadmissible” and Trump should be given a new trial.

It was a “quintessential he-said-she-said case”, Sauer said, claiming the accusations, and some witnesses, were politically motivated.

Sauer’s argument is part of Trump’s appeal of the $5 million verdict in the first Carroll v. Trump trial.

In May 2023, a jury found the former president liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman’s in 1996.

But the panel of judges appeared skeptical of Sauer’s argument.

Judge Denny Chin warned Sauer about the uphill battle the former president faces in his appeal.

«It’s very hard to overturn a jury verdict based on evidentiary rulings,” Judge Chin said. “So why should we order a new trial here?»

Carroll, aformer magazine writer, accused the former president of pinning her against the wall of the dressing room and forcibly groping her.

Trump vehemently denied the accusation, claiminghe “never met” Carroll, despite the two being photographed together in the late 1980s. In return, Carroll sued Trump for defamation, saying his denial of the event while serving as President of the United States, damaged her reputation.

Despite the jury finding Trump liable for sexual abuse, he continued to deny the allegations.

Earlier this year, a jury found Trump liable of defamation again, awarding Carroll $83.3 million in damages. Friday’s oral