Former President Donald Trump appeared in federal court in Manhattan on Friday as his lawyers sought to overturn the $5 million jury verdict that found him guilty of sexually abusing author E. Jean Carroll.
As the hearing began, a motorcade of 2024 Republican candidates was seen arriving outside the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Lower Manhattan.
Preparations began days ago to ensure that the 78-year-old Trump could attend the debate safely.
Trump was convicted in May 2023 of sexually assaulting the “Ask E. Jean” advice columnist in a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room in 1996 and then defaming her in an Oct. 12, 2022 Truth Social post by calling her allegations a “hoax.”
Trump, who has long denied attacking Carroll, did not attend last year's trial.
“Mr. Trump is here today,” Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, told the court during Friday's hearing, “and he was given ample opportunity to take the stand and rebut all of the evidence. He did not put a single witness on the stand.”
Trump's legal team argues that the jury's verdict should be overturned because evidence that should have been excluded was admitted at trial while evidence that should have been admissible was excluded.
They also argued that the former president could not receive a fair trial in New York.
