Former President Donald Trump is seeking a retrial in the sex abuse case won by advice columnist E Jean Carroll.

Trump’s lawyers on Thursday asked a judge for a new trial based on the hefty $5million awarded to Carroll, who accused him of raping her in a department store dressing room and defaming her.

In a filing in Manhattan federal court, Trump’s lawyers said a grand jury’s award of $2million for finding he sexually abused Carroll was ‘excessive’ because they did not find that he raped her.

‘Such abuse could have included groping of the Plaintiff’s breasts through clothing or similar conduct, which is a far cry from rape,’ wrote Trump’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina to Judge Lewis Kaplan.

The conduct did not result in any diagnosed mental damage to Carroll, they argued.

Trump’s lawyers also said that the $2.7million the jury awarded for Carrol’s defamation claim was ‘based upon pure speculation’.

‘New York courts have consistently held that compensatory damage awards of $100,000 or less for defamation claims are appropriate,’ wrote Tacopina, adding that defamation damages should not exceed $368,000.

Carroll’s lawyer Robbie Kaplan wrote off Trump’s request.

‘Trump now argues that, even if he did those things, Ms Carroll doesn’t deserve the $5million in damages that the jury awarded,’ said Kaplan.

‘But Trump’s arguments are frivolous – the jury carefully considered the evidence that Ms Carroll presented, and Trump did not put on a single witness of his own. This time, Trump will not be able to escape the consequences of his actions.’

The day after the jury’s verdict, Trump ripped Carroll in a CNN town hall. He called her a ‘wack job’ and accused her of making up a story about ‘playing hanky panky’ in a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room.

After Trump’s remarks, Carroll amended her first defamation lawsuit against him to seek $10million more in damages.

Trump’s lawyers in the Thursday filing also accused Carroll of ‘double recovery’ with her second suit, which was successful.

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