Trump’s lawyers filed the petition to the New York-based appeals court Tuesday, seeking an en banc review, where the full court hears the case rather than a smaller panel. The appeals court upheld the costly judgment against him on Dec. 30.

In May 2023, a New York jury awarded Carroll $5 million after finding that Trump sexually abused her in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s and defamed her in 2022 by denying her allegations. Carroll later won an additional $83 million in damages for defamatory statements he made in 2019 when denying her allegations of sexual abuse. Trump has appealed both verdicts.

The new petition argues that the 2023 trial was tainted by improper evidence, including testimony from two other women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct and excerpts from the Access Hollywood tape in which Trump is heard describing unwanted advances. Trump’s lawyers said the evidence improperly influenced the jury and could set a damaging precedent if allowed in future trials.

“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, who are headed into work under his forthcoming Justice Department, wrote in the filing.

Defense lawyers also argued the trial court’s decisions risk unjust verdicts based on “passion and prejudice instead of the law and evidence.”

Carroll’s civil cases against Trump coincide with a separate civil case Trump is fighting on appeal in the Empire State after a state court judge ordered him last year to pay upward of $500 million for inflating the value of his assets, an action New York Attorney General Letitia James said was part of an effort to gain more favorable loans and insurance premiums.

If Trump’s bid for a rehearing of the $5 million defamation verdict falters, his final option would be to seek review from the Supreme Court.