Trump Lawyers Fight To Overturn Jury's Finding That He Sexually Abused E. Jean Carroll

NEW YORK (AP) — While Donald Trump campaigns for the presidency, his lawyers are fighting to overturn a verdict finding him liable for sexual abuse and slander.

Three judges of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are scheduled to hear arguments Friday in Trump’s appeal of a jury’s finding that he sexually assaulted the writer E. Jean Carroll. She says the Republican attacked her in a department store dressing room in 1996. That jury awarded Carroll $5 million.

For several days, preparations have been underway in a stately federal courthouse in lower Manhattan for Trump to attend the arguments in person.

Trump’s lawyers say the jury’s verdict should be tossed because evidence was allowed at trial that should have been excluded and other evidence was excluded that should have been permitted.

Trump, who has denied attacking Carroll, did not attend the 2023 trial and has expressed regret he was not there.

The court is unlikely to issue a ruling before November’s presidential election.

The civil case has both political and financial implications for Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, has jabbed at Trump over the jury’s verdict, noting repeatedly that he had been found liable for sexual abuse.

And last January, a second jury awarded Carroll another $83.3 million in damages for comments Trump had made about her while he was president, finding that they were defamatory. That jury had been instructed by the judge that it had to accept the first jury’s finding that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll. The second trial was largely held to determine how badly Carroll had been harmed by Trump’s comments and how severely he should be punished.

Trump, 77, testified less than three minutes at the trial and was not