A federal judge has ordered the release of $5.8 million that Donald Trump was required to pay to E. Jean Carroll following a 2023 jury verdict finding he sexually abused her in 1996 and later defamed her. The money, which has been held in a court escrow account since the jury decision, will now be released along with accumulated interest.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued the directive after the Supreme Court declined last week to take up Trump's appeal of the award. The decision came in response to a last-minute effort by Trump's legal team to block the payment, requesting additional time to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its refusal to hear the case.
Carroll, 82, sued Trump in 2022 in New York state court over an alleged incident in a Manhattan department store in 1996. She claimed he sexually assaulted her during a chance encounter in a dressing room. The defamation claims arose from statements Trump made denying her allegations, including calling her story a "con job" and "hoax." Trump has maintained he does not know Carroll and committed no wrongdoing.
In a statement, Trump's legal team declined to acknowledge the judge's order directly. "The American people stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes," a spokesperson said.
Carroll's lawyers argued that their client had already waited too long for payment. They pointed out that Trump's own attorneys had agreed in 2023 that the money could be released if the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, an understanding the judge had approved.
Trump's legal team had argued that freezing the payment should continue until the Supreme Court rules on their request for reconsideration. They claimed that releasing the money would cause their client irreparable harm, since Carroll has said she intends to give away the funds to charity and third parties. Once distributed, they contended, such money could not be recovered if a future court ruling in Trump's favor overturned the judgment.
Carroll's attorneys countered that Trump appeared to be stalling. "Trump appears to be trying to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying Plaintiff," they wrote in a recent court filing.
The broader legal dispute between Trump and Carroll stretches back years. She first publicly disclosed the alleged abuse in 2019 and filed a defamation suit that same year. The case became entangled in presidential immunity questions for years before finally reaching trial. A jury found Trump liable in early 2023 and awarded $5 million in damages, with the judge adding another $83.3 million judgment when a separate defamation case involving similar claims went to trial in 2024.
Trump's current strategy involves a technical argument about timing. His lawyers claim that statements made by Trump while he was president in 2019 should have been protected by presidential immunity. They argue they could not raise this issue earlier because the Supreme Court's 2024 presidential immunity ruling in the federal election case came too late in the appeals process. That precedent, they suggest, warrants the Court reconsidering its decision not to hear the $5.8 million case.
Requests for the Supreme Court to reconsider a decision to refuse a case are rarely granted and can take months for the court to respond to, Carroll's lawyer noted.
Trump posted on social media after the Supreme Court's initial refusal to hear his appeal, vowing to "continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength."
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The judge's order puts an end to one chapter of this saga, but Trump's legal team clearly intends to drag this battle through every available court door before accepting defeat."
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