Trump’s Appeal Rejected in Sexual Abuse Case
Published : 11:05, 18 August 2026
US Supreme Court has rejected President Donald Trump’s appeal seeking to overturn a $5 million jury verdict in a sexual abuse and defamation case filed by writer, researcher and former television host E. Jean Carroll.
On Monday (August 17), the court declined Trump’s petition challenging the jury’s 2023 verdict, which found him liable for sexually abusing Carroll and subsequently defaming her.
The case stems from allegations that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll in the mid-1990s at the luxury Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City and later defamed her. In 2023, a jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million in damages.
Trump appealed the verdict, with his lawyers asking the Supreme Court to consider presidential immunity in taking up the case. The court, however, rejected his petition along with several other applications.
Trump and the Justice Department have also sought to overturn an $83.3 million defamation award in a separate case brought by Carroll. They argue that Trump should be protected by presidential immunity over comments he made about Carroll in 2019 while he was president. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on that appeal.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision, saying the unanimous jury verdict finding Trump liable for sexually abusing and subsequently defaming Carroll is now final and cannot be challenged in any court.
