An appeals court has denied President Donald Trump's attempt to throw out a defamation and sexual abuse ruling brought against him by E. Jean Carroll.
Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney posted a link to the ruling on Friday, citing two judges appointed by Trump who had dissented, saying that the judge in the case should not have admitted "propensity" evidence such as the Access Hollywood tape to be viewed in the trial.
"Even on its own terms, the argument of the panel opinion does not make sense," the dissenting judge's wrote. "The Access Hollywood tape does not describe the purported pattern that the panel opinion identified. According to the panel, the tape reflected a pattern of conduct in which President Trump 'engaged in an ordinary conversation with a woman he barely knew, then abruptly lunged at her in a semi-public place and proceeded to kiss and forcefully touch her without her consent."
The judges said that in the tape, Trump is talking about Access Hollywood co-host Nancy O'Dell, who Trump said he went "furniture shopping" with "when she was visiting Palm Beach." He then admitted he "moved on her" but "couldn't get there."
Later in the tape, he talks about being "automatically attracted to beautiful" women. That's when he said he will "start kissing them" because "when you're a star they let you do it."
In the case of O'Dell, the Trump judges say that there's no indication that he barely knew her. They also said there wasn't proof that they were "engaged in 'ordinary conversation' before he 'abruptly lunged at her,' that he 'lunged' at her at all, that he did so in a 'semi-public place,' or that he forcefully touched her without her consent."
They added, "On this last point, the panel opinion at least acknowledged that the tape specifies that 'they let you do it' but the panel concluded that the jury could still determine that some conduct was nonconsensual. The panel opinion did not explain how the Access Hollywood tape reflects the other features of the purported pattern."
The next and final step for Trump is to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Cheney noted.
Trump had also been found liable of defamation in a second trial brought against him by Carroll. That ruling was not a part of the appeals court hearing.
