Supreme Court rejects Trump push to overturn E. Jean Carroll assault and defamation verdict

BREAKING NEWSJun. 29, 2026, 1:39 PM UTCSupreme CourtSupreme CourtSupreme Court rejects Trump effort to overturn E. Jean Carroll sexual assault and defamation verdictThe court left in place the jury's finding that Trump sexually abused Carroll in the 1990s and later defamed her after she went public with her claims.Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00E. Jean Carroll arrives at Manhattan federal court for the second defamation trial against former President Donald Trump, in Manhattan, on Jan. 17, 2024.Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleBy Lawrence HurleyWASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday handed a loss to President Donald Trump by refusing to hear his attempt to overturn a jury's finding that he sexually assaulted and later defamed writer E. Jean Carroll.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.The justices turned away Trump's appeal in the case, meaning that the 2023 jury verdict and a $5 million civil judgment remain in place. The case arose from a federal lawsuit filed by Carroll in Manhattan alleging that Trump assaulted her in the dressing room of a department store in 1996. The defamation claims relate to statements he made about her after his first term in office, in which he described her claims as a "con job" and "hoax."Carroll first made her allegations in 2019 and filed the lawsuit three years later, in part under a New York state law aimed at assisting survivors of historic sexual assault.Trump has denied the allegations, with his lawyers noting that Carroll never reported the incident to the police and that there were no witnesses. Trump's legal team said in a court filing that Carroll waited until he was president to bring her claims so she could "maximize political injury to him and profit for herself."On appeal, Trump had argued that Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan should not have allowed testimony from other women...