What is Donald Trump's legal history with sexual assault and defamation cases?

1. The core legal episodes: E. Jean Carroll’s two civil suits

E. Jean Carroll brought related civil claims after publicly accusing Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid‑1990s; she sued for defamation after Trump publicly denied and disparaged her allegations and later added a battery claim under the Adult Survivors Act ^{[2] [3]}. In May 2023 a New York jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and for defamation, awarding $5 million; a separate jury later returned an $83.3 million defamation award tied to repeated statements, and appeals courts have affirmed these judgments ^{[1] [3] [4] [6]}.

2. What the courts actually decided — civil liability, not criminal guilt

All of the cited rulings are civil: juries found Trump liable and awarded monetary damages for sexual abuse and defamation; civil liability imposes financial penalties and findings of responsibility under the civil standard^[7], but it is not a criminal conviction carrying imprisonment ^{[5] [1]}. Media outlets and courts repeatedly note the distinction between civil findings and criminal prosecutions ^{[5] [1]}.

3. How evidence and procedure shaped the verdicts

Courts allowed testimony and materials under Federal Rules permitting evidence of other sexual assaults in sexual‑assault cases; the appeals record notes that the jury considered testimony from other women and a 2005 recording where Trump described non‑consensual conduct—evidence the district court judged admissible and the appeals court found not to have prejudiced Trump’s rights ^[8]. The second, larger defamation award reflected the court and jury’s view of repeated public attacks and their impact on Carroll’s reputation ^{[2] [3]}.

4. Damages, appeals, and subsequent rulings

Initial awards included $5 million in the 2023 verdict and an $83.3 million judgment in a later defamation trial; appellate courts have at times upheld these awards, with rulings in late 2024 and 2025 affirming the liability findings and the larger monetary penalties ^{[6] [4] [9] [10]}. Trump has pursued appeals arguing evidentiary error and, in later filings, claimed various forms of immunity — arguments that appellate panels rejected in the cited decisions ^{[8] [9]}.

5. Broader context: other allegations and settlements in reporting

Reporting and compiled timelines note that Carroll is one of many women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct stretching back decades; outlets list numerous accusations and settlements involving third parties and related defamation disputes, though the E. Jean Carroll litigation is the most legally consequential in the sources provided ^{[11] [12] [13]}. Separate media litigation also arose: for example, ABC News settled a defamation claim with Trump after an anchor misstated the jury’s finding, agreeing to pay $15 million and issue an apology ^{[2] [14]}.

6. Competing perspectives and political framing

Court rulings, jury findings and large damage awards have been framed by some outlets as legally branding a former president as a sexual predator in civil terms ^[13], while Trump and his attorneys have repeatedly denied the allegations, called verdicts unfair, and pursued appeals ^{[5] [3]}. Coverage reflects partisan fault lines: supporters emphasize appeals and denials; critics highlight jury verdicts and upheld appeals decisions ^{[5] [4]}.

7. Limits of available reporting and what’s not shown

Available sources document the Carroll civil suits and their appellate history but do not provide an exhaustive catalog of every allegation against Trump or outcomes of every related settlement or dropped criminal inquiry; sources do not, for example, catalog every civil claim’s procedural status beyond the Carroll matters summarized here ^{[11] [12]}. For claims not covered in the provided reporting, those items are "not found in current reporting."

8. Why these rulings matter legally and politically

Legally, the Carroll judgments created enforceable civil judgments requiring substantial monetary awards and survived appellate review, demonstrating that civil juries and courts accepted Carroll’s claims under applicable standards and evidentiary rules ^{[1] [4] [8]}. Politically, these findings have been repeatedly cited in public debate and media coverage and even generated subsequent media‑liability litigation ^[14], intensifying scrutiny while also producing vigorous denials and appeals from Trump’s side ^[3].

If you want, I can compile a timeline of key filings, jury rulings and appeals in the Carroll litigation with exact dates and citations from the court opinion excerpts and news pieces above.