【中美创新时报2024 年 12 月 31 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）当选总统唐纳德·特朗普周一未能推翻一项 500 万美元的判决，该判决称他在 1990 年代中期在 Bergdorf Goodman 更衣室对作家E.吉恩·卡罗尔（ E. Jean Carroll ）实施性虐待，后来又诽谤了她。《纽约时报》记者Lola Fadulu对此作了下述报道。
特朗普的律师向联邦上诉小组辩称，曼哈顿下级法院允许两名女性在卡罗尔案中作证说他也对她们实施了性侵犯，这是错误的。律师们还辩称，法院不应该允许卡罗尔的律师播放“Access Hollywood”对话的录音，其中特朗普用粗俗的语言吹嘘自己抓住女性的生殖器。
上诉法院驳回了特朗普对该案重新审判的请求，最终对他做出了两项诽谤判决中较小的一项。美国第二巡回上诉法院的意见称：“特朗普先生没有证明地区法院在任何一项受到质疑的裁决中犯了错误。”该意见未经签署，但由由美国总统巴拉克·奥巴马任命的丹尼·钦和苏珊·卡尼以及拜登总统任命的米尔娜·佩雷斯组成的三名法官小组发布。
卡罗尔的律师罗伯塔·卡普兰在一份声明中表示：“E. 吉恩·卡罗尔和我都对今天的裁决感到满意。”“我们感谢第二巡回法院对双方论点的认真考虑。”
特朗普的首席竞选发言人、即将担任白宫通讯主管的张志伟表示，特朗普以“压倒性的优势”再次当选，美国人民“要求立即停止将我们的司法系统政治化，并迅速撤销所有政治迫害，包括民主党资助的卡罗尔骗局，并将继续上诉。”
特朗普的上诉由他挑选的美国司法部长约翰·索尔 (D. John Sauer) 代理。
这项裁决是在特朗普准备于 1 月就任总统之际做出的，他面临着无休止的法律纠纷。去年 12 月，他指控一名陪审员行为不当，他说这应该使曼哈顿的 34 项重罪判决无效。他还起诉了《得梅因纪事报》，因为该报进行的民意调查显示他落后于副总统卡马拉·哈里斯。去年 12 月，美国广播公司新闻部 (ABC News) 就特朗普提起的诽谤诉讼达成和解，同意支付 1500 万美元。
在 2023 年的审判中，卡罗尔作证说，她在第五大道的 Bergdorf’s 遇到了特朗普，他请她帮他给一位女性朋友买礼物。卡罗尔作证说，他们最后去了内衣部，他把她拉进更衣室，关上门，开始殴打她。
卡罗尔说，他把她推到墙上，拉下她的紧身衣，把手指和阴茎插进她的阴道。她说她推开了他，逃走了。除了告诉两个朋友外，她一直对这次遭遇保密，直到 2019 年在《纽约》杂志的一本书摘录中披露。
特朗普没有在审判中作证，但否认有不当行为，并声称他从未见过卡罗尔。当他在 Truth Social 上发帖称卡罗尔的诉讼是一场骗局并写道卡罗尔的律师是一名“政治人物”时，他受到了法官刘易斯·A·卡普兰的谴责。他还表示，卡罗尔当天在 Bergdorf’s 穿的裙子应该“被允许成为案件的一部分”。
由六男三女组成的陪审团认定特朗普对卡罗尔实施了性虐待，但没有认定他强奸了她。目前还不清楚为什么陪审团选择了较轻的虐待罪而不是强奸罪，根据州法律，强奸罪的定义是未经同意的性交，包括阴茎插入阴道口。
联邦陪审团还发现，特朗普在 2022 年在 Truth Social 上写道卡罗尔的案子是“彻头彻尾的骗局”和“恶作剧和谎言”，这是对卡罗尔的诽谤。陪审团命令他向卡罗尔支付 500 万美元的赔偿金。
2024 年，另一个曼哈顿陪审团命令特朗普向卡罗尔支付 8330 万美元，因为特朗普在 2019 年对卡罗尔进行了诽谤，当时卡罗尔指控他强奸，并在新闻发布会上甚至在审判期间继续在社交媒体帖子中诽谤她。卡罗尔的律师辩称，必须给予巨额赔偿，才能阻止特朗普继续嘲笑她。
特朗普上周刚刚在 Truth Social 上分享了另一位用户的帖子，其中包含一张图片，上面写着：“女性因诬告男性强奸而入狱吗？”，下面是卡罗尔和特朗普的照片。该帖子鼓励其他人分享该帖子，“如果你想为特朗普伸张正义”。
本文最初发表于《纽约时报》。
题图：当选总统唐纳德·特朗普。MADDIE MCGARVEY/NYT
附原英文报道：
Trump loses appeal of Carroll’s $5 million award in sex-abuse case
By Lola Fadulu New York Times,Updated December 30, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump.MADDIE MCGARVEY/NYT
NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump on Monday failed to overturn a $5 million judgment that he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.
Trump’s lawyers argued to a federal appeals panel that a lower court in Manhattan had erred by allowing two women to testify in the Carroll trial that he had also sexually assaulted them. The lawyers also argued that the court should not have allowed Carroll’s lawyers to play the recording of the “Access Hollywood” conversation in which Trump bragged in vulgar terms about grabbing women by the genitals.
The appeals court rejected Trump’s request for a new trial in the case, which produced the smaller of two defamation judgments against him. “Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” the opinion by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals said. It was unsigned but issued by a three-judge panel made up of Denny Chin and Susan Carney — appointed by President Barack Obama — as well as Myrna Perez, appointed by President Biden.
“Both E. Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today’s decision,” Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s lawyer, said in a statement. “We thank the Second Circuit for its careful consideration of the parties’ arguments.”
Steven Cheung, Trump’s chief campaign spokesperson, who is set to be his White House communications director, said Trump was reelected with an “overwhelming mandate,” and he said the American people “demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the witch hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll hoax, which will continue to be appealed.”
Trump was represented in the appeal by D. John Sauer, his pick for US solicitor general.
The ruling came as Trump prepares to take the presidency in January amid unceasing legal entanglements. In December, he accused a juror of misconduct that he said should void a 34-count felony conviction in Manhattan. He also sued The Des Moines Register for running a poll that showed him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris. In December, ABC News settled a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump, agreeing to pay $15 million.
During the trial in 2023, Carroll testified that she had run into Trump at Bergdorf’s on Fifth Avenue and he asked her to help him buy a present for a female friend. Carroll testified that they wound up in the lingerie department, where he pulled her into a dressing room, shut the door, and began assaulting her.
Carroll said he shoved her against a wall, pulled down her tights and inserted his fingers and then his penis into her vagina. She said she pushed him away and fled. Other than telling two friends, she kept the encounter secret until disclosing it in a 2019 book excerpt in New York magazine.
Trump did not testify at the trial but denied wrongdoing and claimed he had never met Carroll. He earned a rebuke from the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, when he posted on Truth Social that Carroll’s lawsuit was a scam and wrote that Carroll’s lawyer was a “political operative.” He also said that the dress Carroll wore at Bergdorf’s that day should be “allowed to be part of the case.”
The jury of six men and three women found that Trump had sexually abused Carroll but did not find that he raped her. It was unclear why jurors chose the lesser offense of abuse over rape, which is defined under state law as sexual intercourse without consent that involves any penetration of the penis in the vaginal opening.
The federal jury also found that Trump defamed Carroll when he wrote on Truth Social in 2022 that her case was “a complete con job” and “a Hoax and a lie.” The jury ordered him to pay Carroll $5 million in damages.
In 2024, another Manhattan jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her in 2019 after she accused him of rape, and continuing to do so in social media posts at news conferences and even during the trial. Carroll’s lawyers argued that a large award was necessary to stop Trump from continuing to deride her.
Trump as recently as last week shared a post from another user on Truth Social that contained an image that read: “Should a woman go to jail for falsely accusing a man for rape?” above photos of Carroll and Trump. The post encouraged others to share the post “if you want justice for Trump.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
