Trump in court as lawyers fight to overturn verdict in E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse trial

NEW YORK — Donald Trump moved from the campaign trail to the courtroom, quietly watching Friday as one of his lawyers fought to overturn a verdict that found the former president guilty of sexual assault and defamation.

The Republican nominee and his accuser, writer E. Jean Carroll, sat at tables about 15 feet apart in a federal appeals court. Trump neither acknowledged nor looked at Carroll as he walked right past her on the way in and out, but he shook his head at points, such as when Carroll's lawyer said he sexually assaulted her.

Trump's lawyer, D. John Sauer, told the judges of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the civil case in Carroll's lawsuit was marred by insufficient evidence.

“This case is a textbook example of how implausible allegations are supported by highly inflammatory and inadmissible evidence,” Sauer said, noting that the jury also had the opportunity to consider such issues as the infamous “Access Hollywood” video in which Trump boasted years ago about grabbing women's genitals.

Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, told the judges that the evidence in question was proper and that there was sufficient evidence in the nearly two-week trial to support Carroll's claim that Trump attacked her in the dressing room of a luxury department store decades ago.

“E. Jean Carroll brought this case because Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in 1996 and then defamed her in 2022 by claiming she was crazy and made the whole thing up,” Kaplan said.

Carroll, who later stood with Kaplan outside the courthouse, declined to comment.

Trump left the courtroom in a motorcade and then gave a long diatribe against the case at Trump Tower, reiterating that Carroll – and other women who had accused him of sexual assault – had made it all up.