UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

August Term 2024

(Argued: September 6, 2024 Decided: December 30, 2024)

Docket No. 23-793-cv

E. JEAN CARROLL, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

DONALD J. TRUMP, Defendant-Appellant.

ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Before: CHIN, CARNEY, and PÉREZ, Circuit Judges.

In this case, after a nine-day trial, a jury found that plaintiff-appellee E. Jean Carroll was sexually abused by defendant-appellant Donald J. Trump at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1996. The jury also found that Mr. Trump defamed her in statements he made in 2022. The jury awarded Ms. Carroll a total of $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

Mr. Trump now appeals, contending that the district court (Lewis A. Kaplan, Judge) erred in several of its evidentiary rulings. These include its decisions to admit the testimony of two women who alleged that Mr. Trump sexually assaulted them in the past and to admit a recording of part of a 2005 conversation in which Mr. Trump described to another man how he kissed and grabbed women without first obtaining their consent. Mr. Trump contends that these and other asserted errors entitle him to a new trial.

On review for abuse of discretion, we conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings. Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.

AFFIRMED.

2 ROBERTA A. KAPLAN (Matthew J. Craig, on the brief), Kaplan Martin LLP, New York, NY, and Joshua Matz and Kate Harris, on the brief, Hecker Fink LLP, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

D. JOHN SAUER, James Otis Law Group, LLC, St. Louis, MO, and Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, Blanche Law, New York, NY, on the brief, for Defendant- Appellant.

PER CURIAM:

In this case, after a nine-day trial, a jury found that plaintiff-appellee E. Jean Carroll was sexually abused by defendant-appellant Donald J. Trump at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1996. The jury also found that Mr. Trump defamed her in statements he made in 2022. The jury awarded Ms. Carroll a total of $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

Mr. Trump now appeals, contending that the district court (Lewis A. Kaplan, Judge) erred in several of its evidentiary rulings. These include its decisions to admit the testimony of two women who alleged that Mr. Trump sexually assaulted them in the past and to admit a recording of part of a 2005 conversation in which Mr. Trump described to another man how he kissed and

3 grabbed women without first obtaining their consent. Mr. Trump contends that these and other asserted errors entitle him to a new trial.

On review for abuse of discretion, we conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings. Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of