Topline
A federal judge in New York authorized a $5.8 million judgement against President Donald Trump, three years after he was found liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll—rejecting a last-minute motion on Tuesday night attempting to pause the disbursement out of concerns she planned to donate the funds.
Key Facts
The $5 million award plus interest was mostly already paid and kept in a court-controlled account while Trump appealed the case, but Judge Lewis Kaplan authorized the disbursement of the funds in an order on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, attorneys for Trump asked the court to deny Carroll’s request, insisting Trump could face “unrecoverable financial loss” if she went ahead with her plans to donate the money, should the Supreme Court later overturn the judgement against Trump.
Even though the Supreme Court already declined to review this case, lawyers for the president argued the money should be held while they appeal the case to the high court again, alongside the appeal of the other $83.3 million judgement from Carroll’s second defamation trial.
Attorneys for Trump immediately appealed the payout on Wednesday afternoon.
Big Number
$5.8 million. That’s how much Carroll’s attorneys say Trump owes her—including the original $5 million judgement and roughly $800,000 in interest accrued since it was awarded. Lawyers for the president already deposited $5.5 million into the court-controlled account in 2023, Kaplan said in his order. In the filing on Tuesday, attorneys for Trump said there was more than $6 million in the account.
Key Background
Carroll, a former magazine columnist, accused Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s, detailing her account in a book published in 2019. Trump has repeatedly denied the account. Carroll sued Trump under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, and a jury eventually found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation—but notably not for rape. In a separate defamation trial, another jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million.