A federal appeals court in Manhattan shut down Donald Trump's emergency request to freeze a $5.8 million payment to E. Jean Carroll on Wednesday night, hours after the former president filed to block a judge's order releasing the funds.
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected Trump's plea for an immediate administrative stay of Judge Lewis Kaplan's directive. The judge had ordered the disbursement of the principal judgment of $5 million plus accumulated interest from a court-held account, where the money had sat since June 2023.
Trump filed an appeal within an hour of Kaplan's order and then requested emergency intervention from the appellate panel, asking them to preserve the status quo while they consider a longer-term stay during the broader appeals process. The court declined.
Kaplan issued the release order following the Supreme Court's refusal on June 29 to hear Trump's appeal of the Carroll case. The judge accompanied his decision with a memorandum that made clear his impatience with the litigation timeline.
"In the last analysis, defendant has been stalling this case for years," Kaplan wrote. He noted that a jury had unanimously found Trump sexually abused and defamed Carroll, that the judgment had been upheld on appeal, and that en banc rehearing had been denied.
"The judgment on that verdict has been upheld on appeal. En banc rehearing has been denied. The Supreme Court has denied certiorari without dissent. It's time for him to 'do equity' and pay the judgment," the judge said.
Carroll's attorneys seized on the Supreme Court's refusal as the trigger for payment. Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's lead lawyer, argued in court filings that "after four years of litigation across every level of the federal court system, it is time for this case to end." Under the original stipulation agreement between both sides, she contended, Carroll became entitled to the funds once definitive legal developments occurred, including the high court rejecting Trump's appeal.
The $5 million judgment stemmed from Carroll's 2023 civil trial in Manhattan federal court. The jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. Trump has denied all wrongdoing throughout the litigation.
The original agreement, reached about six weeks after Carroll's trial victory, allowed Trump to deposit the $5 million plus 11 percent interest into a court-administered account while his appeals proceeded. Trump's legal team had argued that Carroll's representatives misread the agreement's terms, contending it did not permit collection while rehearing petitions remained unresolved. That argument failed to persuade either Kaplan or the appeals court.
Author James Rodriguez: "After blitzing through four years of federal courts and losing everywhere, Trump's stalling tactics are finally hitting a dead end."
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