Supreme Court rejects Trump appeal of sexual assault verdict

The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear President Trump's appeal against a $5 million judgment after he was found liable for sexually abusing the writer E. Jean Carroll. None of the justices dissented from the decision. Trump denied sexually assaulting Carroll in a department store changing room in the 1990s, but jurors found him not just liable for the abuse but also for defaming her.

Trump's lawyers said the trial judge in the case improperly allowed testimony from two other women who said they were targets of sexual misconduct by Trump, as well as the playing of the so-called "Access Hollywood" tape in which the president years ago is heard bragging about kissing and grabbing women.

The jury did not find Trump liable for rape under New York's narrow legal definition of the crime, Judge Lewis Kaplan said that the verdict found that he had raped Carroll "according to the common definition of the word" and New York has since broadened the legal definition of rape to include contact other than vaginal penetration with a penis.

This case was one of two fought by Carroll and lost by Trump. In the other, he was found liable in New York for defamation agaist her and ordered to pay $83.3m; he is appealing that ruling too.

Previously:
• Donald Trump was found liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll
• E. Jean Carroll fired from ELLE magazine after Trump rape allegation, readers call for #NoWayinElle boycott
• Trump loses bid for new trial in sexual assault case
• E. Jean Carroll found Trump 'not there' in his courtroom performances, describes him as a snorting walrus (video)