The Daily Fuckup

Donald Trump did not lose a new evidentiary fight in E. Jean Carroll’s civil case on March 28, 2023. The ruling that mattered came on March 10, when U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Carroll could use part of the Access Hollywood tape, along with testimony from Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, at trial. Kaplan found the material admissible under the federal rules governing evidence in civil sexual-assault cases. ([law.justia.com](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1%3A2022cv10016/590045/212/))

The order did not decide Carroll’s claims. It did not tell jurors that the tape proved what Carroll says happened to her in a Manhattan department store. It did, however, keep Trump’s own recorded words and the accounts of two other women in the evidentiary mix as the case moved toward trial. In Kaplan’s view, the jury could hear evidence it might use to assess pattern, credibility, and whether Trump had a history of sexual misconduct. ([law.justia.com](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1%3A2022cv10016/590045/212/))

Kaplan’s ruling also rejected Trump’s effort to keep Leeds and Stoynoff out. Leeds said Trump groped her on a flight in 1979, and Stoynoff said he pinned her against a wall and forcibly kissed her at Mar-a-Lago in 2005. The judge said the alleged conduct was close enough to Carroll’s allegations that the jury could hear it if the witnesses were believed. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/5031edb24e32ab23863e74d672f34ee3))

The Access Hollywood tape itself dated to 2005, not the Carroll allegations. In it, Trump bragged in crude terms about sexual contact with women. Kaplan said a jury reasonably could treat those remarks as evidence relevant to Carroll’s civil case, but the recording was still just evidence — not a finding that Trump assaulted Carroll. That distinction matters, even in a trial where old words and old accusations can reshape the room fast. ([law.justia.com](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1%3A2022cv10016/590045/212/))