A Federal Court of Appeals in New York confirmed on Monday the sentence of $ 83.3 million imposed on President Donald Trump for defame the former columnist of the E. Jean Carroll magazine in 2019.
“Trump has not identified any reason that guarantees a reconsideration of our previous participation on presidential immunity. We also concluded that the District Court was not wrong in any of the contested decisions and that the jury’s damage awards are fair and reasonable,” said the opinion.
Last year, Trump received the order to pay $ 83.3 million in Damage to Carroll, a former columnist from Elle magazine, for defame it in 2019 when he denied having sexually abused her in the costumes of a store by departments of Manhattan in the 1990s.
The Second Court of Appeals of the United States Circuit on Monday rejected Trump’s argument that he was entitled to presidential immunity when he made the statements about Carroll. The Court of Appeals also rejected Trump’s argument, the jury’s damage was excessive.
The panel of three judges decided that “Trump acted, at least, unpurious contempt for the truth” when he called Carroll a liar and said he is not his kind. The panel said that the $ 18.3 million that the jury gave Carroll in compensatory damages was fair.
“After Trump launched his statements, which were seen between 85.8 to 104 million people, Carroll was attacked instantly and continuously on Twitter and Facebook and emails. He received thousands of such attacks, including hundreds of death threats,” said the opinion.
President Donald Trump leaves Air Force One, on September 7, 2025 at the Andrews joint base, Maryland.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The panel also rejected Trump’s argument, the $ 65 million punitive damage prize was extremely excessive.
“There was ample evidence that Trump was recklessly indifferent to Carroll’s health and security,” said the opinion. “In addition, Trump’s attacks against Carrol were not isolated; rather, they continued throughout the processing of almost five years and became more extreme and frequent as the trial approached.”
In 2023, a jury in a separate trial found Trump responsible for the attack and granted Carroll $ 5 million in damages for aggression and defame it in a publication on the social networks of 2022 by calling them “a hoax and a lie.”
The same Court of Appeals rejected its appeal of that sentence.
