Carroll seeks $5.8 million from Trump after Supreme Court appeal fails
A federal judge gave Trump until July 7 to respond after E Jean Carroll sought quick payment of a civil damages award.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
E Jean Carroll is pressing President Donald Trump to pay about $5.8 million after the US Supreme Court declined to take up his challenge to a civil verdict against him. The move could bring an end to Trump’s effort to avoid paying the damages tied to Carroll’s lawsuit over his denials of her sexual assault allegation.
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday allowed Carroll to seek payment on a faster schedule, according to Al Jazeera, citing court filings and reports from AP and Reuters. Kaplan ordered Trump’s lawyers to respond by July 7.
Carroll’s lawyers asked the federal court a day earlier to act quickly. In filings, they accused Trump’s legal team of delaying payment by raising new defenses after previous attempts failed.
The dispute dates to 2019, when Carroll, a former Elle advice columnist, published an excerpt from her memoir alleging that Trump raped her around 1996 in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan. Trump denied the allegation and said Carroll had lied.
Trump also told The Hill in 2019, during his first presidential term, that Carroll was “not my type” and that the alleged assault “never happened.” Carroll sued him for defamation later that year, saying his statements harmed her reputation by portraying her as someone who fabricated the claim for personal benefit.
Two civil cases against Trump
Carroll later brought another civil case in 2022 under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, alleging battery and defamation. That suit cited a Truth Social post in which Trump called her claims a “complete con job” and described them as a “scam” and “hoax,” according to Al Jazeera.
In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation after he called Carroll a liar, but it did not find him liable for rape. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.
A separate jury in January 2024 awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages in the second case. Trump has appealed both verdicts, arguing that the trials were flawed because jurors were permitted to hear evidence connected to other allegations of sexual misconduct, according to Al Jazeera.
On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal seeking to overturn the $5 million verdict. That left lower court rulings in place. The high court has not yet considered the second case, Al Jazeera reported.
After the Supreme Court’s action, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Carroll’s lawsuit was a “fake case” and said he would continue fighting what he called “Weaponization and Lawfare.” He also wrote that the case was “really against the United States of America” and should not happen to another president or candidate.
Interest has increased the $5 million award to roughly $5.8 million, according to Al Jazeera. Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to Judge Kaplan, told the court that Trump should not receive more time to delay payment and wrote that it was time for him to pay Carroll.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.