A three-judge panel has upheld the ruling that awarded E. Jean Carroll $5 million from President-elect Donald Trump. Two days prior, Trump shared a meme saying she should go to jail.

The ruling came from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Manhattan-based court upheld all of the original ruling. Trump’s lawyers had “not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings. Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial,” the judges wrote.

Carroll said that Trump raped her at a Bergdorf Goodman store dressing room. Trump denied the claim, and accused Carroll of perpetrating a hoax to promote her book. He repeatedly said that not only did he not know her, she wasn’t his “type.”

READ MORE: E. Jean Carroll Talks About ‘Zero’ Trump in Court and Reveals How She Will Use Jury Award

The original ruling found that though the standard of “rape” was not reached, Trump was liable for sexual assault. The court awarded Carroll $2.02 million for sexual assault, plus an additional $2.98 million for defamation, according to Reuters.

In the appeal, Trump’s lawyers objected to allowing testimony from other women who said Trump sexually assaulted them. His lawyers also objected to allowing jurors to hear the infamous Access Hollywood tape that went public in 2016 where Trump bragged about being able to grab women by their genitalia. On the tape, Trump says, “When you’re a star, they let you do it.”

The appellate court ruled that this evidence was indeed legal for the jury to hear.

“This Court has long taken an ‘inclusionary’ approach… under which other act evidence is admissible unless it is introduced for the sole purpose of showing a defendant’s bad character,” the court wrote.

Two days before the ruling, Trump shared a meme on his Truth Social account, which suggested Carroll should go for jail for making false accusations.

The meme reshared by Trump on Saturday. (Screenshot/Truth Social)

The meme reads “Should a woman go to jail for falsely accusing a man of rape? Retruth if you want justice for Trump.”

This meme could prove problematic for Trump. Trump’s been hit by additional lawsuits from Carroll for defamation, when he continued to say she made up her assault story. This January, a court ruled that Trump had to pay her an additional $83.3 million for defamation; the appeal in that case is still pending.

The case was at the center of another scandal. This December, ABC News was criticized for deciding to settle with Trump for $16 million when he sued for defamation. That case hinged on a March 2024 report from George Stephanopoulos that said Trump had been found liable for rape.

Some legal experts criticized ABC News for settling, saying that it could have won the case. However, some reporting suggests that ABC News was worried about what could be uncovered during the discovery phase of the trial.

Image via Shutterstock

Linda Sun, New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s former deputy chief of staff, was arrested Tuesday morning on charges that she was acting as an unregistered agent on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, had their home raided in July by the FBI, though any information about why was kept sealed until Tuesday. Sun is accused of being an unregistered Chinese agent, and using her position to promote Chinese interests, as well as alien smuggling and visa fraud, according to CNN.

She allegedly blocked Taiwanese delegations from being able to access New York officials, while setting up meetings with Chinese delegations and the state government. Sun also worked on certain public statements from politicians in order to make them more in line with the CCP’s views, according to the Associated Press.

Hu faces charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and bank fraud, as well as a misuse of identification, the AP reported. Hu is a businessman who owns and operates several businesses, including a Queens liquor store, Golden Capital Group LLC, Medical Supplies USA LLC and a seafood import/export business called Foodie Fisherman LLC, according to the New York Times and Gothamist.

READ MORE: Trump Took Millions From China, Saudi Arabia, Other Foreign Governments While President: Report

Sun and Hu received business opportunities in China, along with other perks including luxury goods, event tickets, a job for one of Sun’s relatives and Nanjing-style salted ducks for Sun’s parents, according to ABC News.

“The illicit scheme enriched the defendant’s family to the tune of millions of dollars,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.

Sun was fired by Hochul’s office in March 2023 after her office found “evidence of misconduct,” Hochul’s press secretary, Avi Small, told CNN.

Sun had been working in the New York state government since 2012, when she was hired by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration as a liaison to the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, according to Politico.

After two Uvalde cops were charged over their botched response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary, a Texas state senator says more officers should be charged.

Former Police Chief Pete Arredondo and then-officer Adrian Gonzalez were charged on felony counts of child endangerment, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The May 24, 2022 shooting was Texas’ worst; 19 children and two teachers were killed.

Uvalde cops were criticised for not stopping the shooting earlier, particularly when camera footage was released showing officers standing in a hallway while the shooting continued.

READ MORE: Listen: Uvalde School Massacre Was God’s Plan Says Texas AG Ken Paxton – ‘Life Is Short’

Democratic Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez  said that the charges against Arredondo and Gonzalez were not enough. Gutierrez represents District 19, which includes Uvalde.

“If they’re going to indict those two officers, they need to indict the 13 DPS troopers in that hallway,” Gutierrez told the Express-News. “That’s very disturbing to me.”

Almost 400 law enforcement officers had responded to the shooting, the Express-News reported, including 28 officers from the Uvalde PD.

During the shooting, Arredondo and Gonzales were among the first officers to enter the building in the first few minutes of the incident. The incident started at 11:29 a.m., when the shooter crashed near a funeral home, fired on the employees, then entered onto the school campus, according to the official timeline from the Uvalde Police’s internal investigation.

At 11:30, police were dispatched; the shooter entered the building at 11:33 and started firing. At 11:35, four officers, including Gonzalez and Arredondo, entered the building. Approximately a minute later, officers opened the unlocked door to the classroom, and were fired upon and injured. At 11:38 a.m., Arredondo ordered the officers to retreat.

At 11:55 a.m., as the shooting continued, Arredondo ordered police to clear the rooms surrounding the classrooms and start to negotiate with the shooter. Police finally entered the classroom nearly an hour later, at 12:50 p.m., and took down the shooter. During this wait, Arredondo was waiting for someone to bring him keys to the door, mistakenly thinking the classroom was locked.

Police inaction during a school shooting is sadly not uncommon. In 2018, former officer Scot Peterson was acquitted for not acting to stop the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Footage showed Peterson was on the scene, but was standing outside the building as the shooting continued.

A federal judge also dismissed a lawsuit against Broward County officials including the sheriff for not protecting the students at the school. The judge ruled that though the 14th Amendment requires police to protect those in custody, there is no police duty to protect people not in custody, according to CNN.

In that shooting, 14 students and three teachers were killed; another 17 victims were wounded.