Donald Trump handed a crushing loss after his attempt to hug presidential immunity like a security blanket is rejected

A federal appeals court has upheld the $83.3 million defamation verdict against Donald Trump, rejecting his attempts to overturn the massive judgment awarded to writer E. Jean Carroll. This isn’t the first time he’s been on the wrong side of a ruling in this ongoing legal saga; a separate appeals court also upheld a previous $5 million verdict against him in a related case.

This latest decision from the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit is a major legal defeat, and it looks like his attempts to use claims of presidential immunity to get out of it have failed. The core of the case goes back to E. Jean Carroll’s allegation that Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store in 1996. After she went public with her story, Trump repeatedly denied her claims and said she was lying for political or personal reasons, like to sell her book.

The jury in the second of two trials against him found that his statements were defamatory and hit him with the $83.3 million judgment. This included a hefty chunk for punitive damages ($65 million per NBC) to punish him for his actions. The jury basically decided that Trump acted with “malice and deceit” and was “recklessly indifferent to Carroll’s health and safety,” which is some pretty strong language. His statements had a “domino effect,” leading to “ongoing and prolific harassment,” including death threats, against Carroll. To be fair, this isn’t exactly a light matter.

Trump makes his lawsuit even worse for himself

In his appeal, Trump’s lawyers had a few main arguments. First, they claimed the damages were excessive and unreasonable. Second, they tried to use a Supreme Court immunity ruling to argue that he should be shielded from liability because he made some of the statements while he was still in office. They also argued that the district judge made legal errors during the trial.

The three-judge appeals panel rejected all of these arguments, concluding that the damages were “fair and reasonable” given the “extraordinary and egregious facts of this case.” The panel noted that his conduct “continued over at least a five-year period,” which makes the punishment a lot more understandable.

Trump was also accused of groping a model and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl with Jeffrey Epstein. The girl only dropped the lawsuit against him after his MAGA followers sent the alleged victim death threats. So those who follow him blindly likely won’t believe these charges anyway.

The ruling noted that the judge who oversaw the trial “did not err” in any of his decisions, shutting down one of the main appeals. The panel also wrote that Trump “failed to identify any grounds that would warrant reconsidering” their previous holding on presidential immunity. This is a pretty big deal because it shows that his immunity arguments just aren’t holding up in this court. It really just feels like night and day when you compare his attempts to get out of this to the reality of the court’s decision.

For now, the legal battle isn’t completely over. While this is a definitive loss at this level, Trump’s lawyers have already indicated they’re challenging the separate $5 million verdict in the Supreme Court, with a petition due in November. So, it’s possible he’ll try to appeal this $83.3 million ruling to the Supreme Court as well.