A federal appeals court in Manhattan has unanimously upheld the $5 million verdict awarded to E. Jean Carroll after a jury found former President Donald Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The decision by the three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Trump’s claims that the trial was unfair due to evidence related to his alleged past sexual misconduct.

The court ruled that evidence presented during the trial, including Trump’s remarks in the 2005 Access Hollywood video, demonstrated a “repeated, idiosyncratic pattern of conduct” consistent with Carroll’s allegations. In their opinion, the judges stated, “Taking the record as a whole and considering the strength of Ms. Carroll’s case, we are not persuaded that any claimed error or combination of errors in the district court’s evidentiary rulings affected Mr. Trump’s substantial rights.”

Carroll accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s and later defaming her in a Truth Social post in October 2022. While the jury did not find Trump liable for rape, it awarded Carroll $2.02 million for sexual abuse and $2.98 million for defamation.

Trump has consistently denied Carroll’s allegations, calling them a “hoax” and accusing her of fabricating the incident to boost sales of her memoir. His spokesperson, Steven Cheung, criticized the verdict as an example of “the political weaponization of our justice system” and vowed to continue appealing the decision.

The appeals court also dismissed Trump’s argument that the trial was biased due to testimonies from two additional women who accused him of sexual misconduct. Businesswoman Jessica Leeds testified that Trump groped her on a plane in the late 1970s, while former People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff alleged he forcibly kissed her at Mar-a-Lago in 2005. The court deemed these accounts relevant in establishing a pattern of behavior supporting Carroll’s claims.

Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, welcomed the ruling, stating, “E. Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today’s decision.”

The verdict and subsequent appeals court decision mark a significant legal and public setback for Trump as he continues to face numerous legal challenges.