A United States appeals court has upheld an $83.3 million (about Ksh.10.7 billion) defamation award against Donald J. Trump, a decision that deepens the former president’s legal troubles as he seeks a political comeback.
The case was brought by E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s and later defaming her when she spoke out.
In a ruling on Monday, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said the penalty was justified. “We hold that the district court did not err in any of the challenged rulings and that the jury’s duly rendered damages awards were reasonable in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts of this case,” the judges wrote.
The award, first issued in January 2024, included $65 million in punitive damages, $7.3 million in compensatory damages, and $11 million for an online campaign to repair Carroll’s reputation. It was far above the $10 million she had initially sought.
Carroll, 81, first made her allegations public in 2019. At the time, Mr Trump dismissed her claims, saying she was “not my type.” Jurors later saw video evidence from a 2022 deposition where Mr Trump mistook a photograph of Ms Carroll for his former wife Marla Maples—an exchange that weakened his defence.
A separate federal jury in 2023 had already found Mr Trump liable for sexually assaulting Ms Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996 and defaming her again when he labelled her allegations a “con job.”
The appeals court on Monday said the size of the penalty was necessary to stop Mr Trump from continuing to attack Ms Carroll publicly. “The jury was entitled to find that Trump would not stop defaming Carroll unless he was subjected to a substantial financial penalty,” the decision stated.
Mr Trump, who did not testify in the trial, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. He used his social media platform, Truth Social, to denounce Ms Carroll, the judge, and the proceedings. At one point, he called the presiding judge “an extremely abusive individual.”
The former president has also turned the case into a campaign talking point, portraying himself as a target of political enemies as he pushes for a return to the White House.
For Ms Carroll, the ruling is a powerful vindication after years of legal battles. For Mr Trump, it is another costly reminder that his words—both past and present—remain under scrutiny in the courts.
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