A contentious legal battle involving former President Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll takes an unexpected turn as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution points out potential grounds for appeal.
According to Daily Caller, Victor Davis Hanson suggested during his podcast that Judge Lewis Kaplan's controversial remarks about rape could provide grounds for reversing the verdict in Trump's E. Jean Carroll case.
The case stems from a May 2023 verdict where a New York jury found Trump liable for sexual battery and defamation but did not find him guilty of rape in Carroll's lawsuit.
This development has gained renewed attention following ABC's recent settlement with Trump over defamatory statements made by George Stephanopoulos.
Court documents reveal that ABC must pay $15 million by December 24 as a charitable contribution to Trump's presidential foundation and museum.
The settlement arose from a defamation lawsuit Trump filed against the network and Stephanopoulos after the host repeatedly claimed Trump was "liable for rape" during a March broadcast featuring South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace.
Hanson highlighted Stephanopoulos's repeated assertions about Trump, noting:
Well George Stephanopoulos gave an interview and I think on 11 occasions he said Donald Trump committed rape. In the E. Jean Carroll civil suit, she alleged that she was sexually attacked by him. The jury found that he did not commit rape but that he had committed, there was a likelihood he'd committed sexual assault.
The settlement marks a significant victory for Trump's legal team in their ongoing efforts to challenge public characterizations of the Carroll verdict.
Judge Kaplan's response to Trump's legal team's request for a new trial has become a focal point of potential appeal. When addressing the distinction between rape and sexual abuse definitions, Kaplan made statements that Hanson believes demonstrate prejudice.
The judge's interpretation of the verdict has drawn particular scrutiny. In his filing, Kaplan argued that while Carroll couldn't prove rape under New York Penal Law, this didn't necessarily mean Trump hadn't committed what many people commonly understand as rape.
Hanson emphasized the problematic nature of the judge's position:
The judge basically … show[ed] pre-existing prejudice that if the judge knew that the jury had not found or was not considering rape and yet he said publicly that they were indistinguishable, then that's going to be appealed.
The complex legal situation surrounding Trump's E. Jean Carroll case continues to evolve as multiple related cases progress through the courts. Victor Davis Hanson's analysis suggests that Judge Kaplan's comments about the interpretation of rape versus sexual abuse could provide grounds for appealing the verdict.
The confluence of ABC's settlement and the potential appeal of the Carroll case verdict highlights the ongoing legal challenges facing Trump. With the judge's controversial statements now under scrutiny, legal experts await the next developments in this high-profile case that intertwines defamation claims with serious allegations of sexual misconduct.
