President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to take another look at the $5 million verdict against him in the civil case by E. Jean Carroll, who alleged he sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room and then defamed her by denying it.

The original verdict was rendered by a panel from the appeals court on December 30, but Trump is now asking for the full court to hear the case.

A New York jury awarded Carroll $5 million in May 2023, stopping short of saying Trump raped her but agreeing that he sexually abused and then defamed her.

Trump's lawyers now argue that the 2023 trial included improper evidence that tainted it, such as testimony from two other women who made sexual misconduct allegations against Trump and clips from the Access Hollywood tape where Trump describes making unwanted advances on women.

"Highly inflammatory"

"To have any chance of persuading a jury, Carroll's implausible, unsubstantiated allegations had to be -- and repeatedly were -- propped up by the erroneous admission of highly inflammatory propensity evidence," Trump’s attorneys Todd Blanche, Emil Bove, and D. John Sauer, all of whom will soon be in Trump's Justice Department, wrote.

Verdicts like this one risk being made out of “passion and prejudice instead of the law and evidence," they said.

If the court doesn't agree to hear it or rules against Trump, he could potentially take the case to the Supreme Court.

A separate case against him in 2024 awarded Carroll $83 million for defamation against her in 2019. Trump is also appealing that verdict separately.

"Trumped" up

The whole case was "trumped" up to make Trump look bad to the electorate, but it came across to many as vindictive and overdone.

Carroll could not even remember when the alleged assault happened or the layout of the store. There was no evidence that anything happened.

Her memory was just too vague to prove anything, but the jury of New Yorkers had enough members who just plain didn't like Trump, so they found him liable anyway.

In the end, Trump overcame the perception that he was some kind of sexual predator to be elected once again as President of the United States.

The only two people who know what happened or didn't happen are Carroll and Trump, and they have opposing stories.

Voters decided months ago who they believed, but biased prosecutors and judges still need to get their pound of flesh from Trump any way they can.