Donald Trump loses key ruling ahead of writer Carroll's defamation trial

A federal judge on Wednesday said the writer E. Jean Carroll's second defamation trial against Donald Trump will be limited to damages only, in a defeat for the former U.S. president.

Carroll accused Trump of defaming her by denying in June 2019 that he had raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said a May jury verdict awarding Carroll $5 million after Trump defamed her in Oct. 2022 established that he made his 2019 statements with "actual malice," leaving only the issue of how much he should pay in damages.