(Photo
by
Chip
Somodevilla/Getty
Images)
This
morning
the
Second
Circuit
affirmed
once
again
that
the
incoming
president
is
a
serial
sexual
abuser
of
women,
with
“a
pattern
of
abrupt,
nonconsensual,
and
physical
advances
on
women
he
barely
knew.”
The
court
refused
to
overturn
the
jury
verdict
in
Carroll
II,
the
defamation
and
abuse
case
brought
by
advice
columnist
E.
Jean
Carroll,
who
was
sexually
assaulted
by
the
once
and
future
president.
Trump’s
lawyers
John
Sauer,
Todd
Blanche,
and
Emil
Bove
(the
future
solicitor
general
and
top
two
deputies
at
the
DOJ)
turned
in
their
usual
pile
of
incendiary
gobbledygook,
claiming,
for
example,
that
“President
Trump
himself
did
not
attend
the
trial
given
the
fact
there
was
absolutely
no
physical
evidence
in
support
of
Plaintiff’s
claims
and
the
only
direct
evidence
of
liability
was
the
incredible
testimony
from
Plaintiff
who
failed
to
provide
a
month
or
even
year
when
this
supposed
event
took
place.”
In
reality,
Trump’s
trial
lawyer
Joe
Tacopina
was
desperate
to
keep
him
out
of
the
courtroom,
aware
of
his
client’s
effect
on
a
jury.
Indeed,
in
the
second
case, Carroll
I,
which
was
delayed
thanks
to
Trump’s
two-year
quest
to
claim
he
was
just
doing
his
presidential
duty
when
he
said
Carroll
was
too
unattractive
to
assault,
the
defendant
did
show
up
in
court.
There
the
verdict
was
$83
million,
as
compared
to
the
$5
million
from
the
first
trial.
But
Trump’s
claims
on
appeal
—
even
the
ones
that
didn’t
blatantly
distort
the
record
—
were
little
more
than
halfhearted
gestures
in
the
direction
of
an
argument.
He
claimed
(again)
that
it
was
error
to
admit
testimony
by
Jessica
Leeds,
who
says
that
he
attempted
to
sexually
assault
her
on
an
airplane,
because
somehow
propensity
evidence
doesn’t
count
unless
you’re
on
the
ground.
“Mr.
Trump’s
reading
is
wholly
inconsistent
with
the
rationale
advanced
in
Congress
in
adopting
Rules
413-415,
which
centered
on
the
nature
of
the
other
conduct,
not
the
specific
location
in
which
the
conduct
occurred,”
the
three-judge
panel
countered.
Trump
insisted
that
Natasha
Stoynoff
should
not
have
been
allowed
to
testify
that
he
threw
her
up
against
the
wall
and
kissed
her,
ignoring
her
protest
and
only
stopping
when
a
butler
walked
in,
because
it’s
not
sexual
assault
until
you
try
to
touch
the
victim’s
genitals.
“That
the
alleged
assault
showed
no
signs
of
terminating
until
a
third
party
interrupted
it
also
supports
the
conclusion
that
a
jury
could
have
reasonably
found
that
Mr.
Trump
intended
to
bring
his
body
into
contact
with
Ms.
Stoynoff’s
genitals
and
that
he
took
substantial
steps
toward
doing
so,”
the
court
scoffed.
The
“Access
Hollywood”
tape
was
properly
admitted
because,
“The
jury
could
have
reasonably
concluded
from
those
statements
that,
in
the
past,
Mr.
Trump
had
kissed
women
without
their
consent
and
then
proceeded
to
touch
their
genitalia.”
And
the
lack
of
DNA
testing
on
the
dress
was
appropriately
excluded,
“especially
considering
that
the
pretrial
discovery
period
had
closed
by
the
time
Mr.
Trump
offered
to
provide
a
DNA
sample,
and
both
parties
had
had
ample
time
to
develop
DNA
as
an
issue,
yet
both
had
failed
to
do
so.”
In
short,
there
was
no
abuse
of
discretion,
and
Trump
has
to
pay
Carroll
the
$5
million.
Of
course
John,
Clarence,
Sam,
Brett,
and
Neil
haven’t
weighed
in
yet,
so
the
most
important
jury’s
still
out
on
whether,
when
you’re
a
star,
they
really
just
let
you
do
it.
Carroll
v.
Trump
[Appellate
Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.