Former President Donald Trump is demanding a new sexual abuse trial against writer E. Jean Carroll — claiming she shouldn’t have been awarded millions of dollars in the civil case last month because she wasn’t raped, according to a court filing Thursday.
The 76-year-old ex-president — who was found liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room decades ago — says the $2 million he was ordered to pay for the alleged attack is “excessive,” according to the Manhattan federal court papers.
“The court should order a new trial … because contrary to Plaintiff’s claim of rape, the jury found she was not raped but sexually abused,” the filing states. “Such abuse could have included groping through Plantiff’s clothing or similar conduct, which is a far cry from rape.”
Trump said the jury’s award for damages were “grossly excessive” because the the encounter didn’t cause the 79-year-old former Elle magazine advice columnist any diagnosed mental problems, according to the motion for a new trial.
He also claimed the additional $2.7 million Carroll was awarded for the defamation portion of her civil suit was “based upon pure speculation” along with the flawed calculations of a “reputation expert” who testified on the accuser’s behalf.
“[Carroll’s] income has increased since defendant denied plaintiff’s claim,” the court papers state — referencing Trump’s defamatory assertion that Carroll had lied about the alleged rape.
In May, a nine-person Manhattan federal jury found Trump liable for battery and defamation after he publicly denied Carroll’s rape allegations, claimed he had never met her and accused her of pulling a political “hoax.”
He was ordered to pay more than $5 million total in damages.
A lawyer for Carroll said Thursday Trump’s push for a new trial was legally flimsy.
“Trump’s arguments are frivolous — the jury carefully considered the evidence that Ms. Carroll presented, and Trump did not put on a single witness of his own. This time, Trump will not be able to escape the consequences of his actions,” attorney Robbie Kaplan said in a statement.
Over the course of the trial over her lawsuit, Carroll called 10 witnesses, including two other Trump accusers and two friends she had told about the alleged assault.
Trump’s lawyers, meanwhile, insisted that Carroll’s narrative was implausible and said she had not provided enough evidence to back up her damages claims.
Carroll’s first lawsuit, filed in 2022, accused Trump of raping her in the dressing room likely in 1996.
She later filed a second suit for both defamation and battery after New York passed a law extending a statute of limitations, allowing sexual assault victims more time to sue.
