President Donald Trump received temporary relief from paying the defamation judgment awarded to E. Jean Carroll while the Supreme Court considers whether to hear the case.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A federal appeals court on Tuesday temporarily halted enforcement of the $83.3 million defamation judgment against President Donald Trump while the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether it will review the case.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request from Trump’s legal team to delay payment of the award to E. Jean Carroll, according to a court filing entered Tuesday.
The court’s order allows Trump to avoid paying the judgment immediately but requires him to post a $7.4 million bond to cover additional interest costs during the appeals process, a condition requested by Carroll’s attorneys.
The decision follows the appeals court’s refusal late last month to grant Trump’s request for a rare rehearing before the full 2nd Circuit after a three-judge panel upheld the January 2024 verdict.
Following that denial, Trump attorney Justin D. Smith asked the appeals court to pause enforcement of the judgment so the president would not be required to satisfy the award before the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the case.
Smith argued last week there was a “fair prospect” the Supreme Court could ultimately rule in Trump’s favor.
Trump has repeatedly denied Carroll’s allegations that he sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at a Manhattan department store in 1996, describing the claims as a “made up scam.”
The appeals court panel that upheld the verdict wrote in September that Trump continued making statements attacking Carroll for years after the allegations became public.
“He also continued these same attacks during the trial itself,” the court wrote. “In one such statement, issued two days into the trial, Trump proclaimed that he would continue to defame Carroll ‘a thousand times.’”
The $83.3 million award stemmed from a January 2024 jury verdict connected to statements Trump made denying Carroll’s accusations and criticizing her motives after she publicly detailed the allegations in a 2019 memoir.
Jurors in that case were instructed to accept findings from a separate May 2023 civil trial in which another jury awarded Carroll $5 million after concluding Trump sexually abused and defamed her.
Trump’s legal team is challenging the larger defamation judgment on multiple grounds, including arguments involving presidential immunity.
His attorneys contend Trump’s statements denying Carroll’s allegations while serving as president were protected by “absolute immunity” because they were made in response to public accusations directed at him during his time in office.
Trump has also argued Carroll’s claims were politically motivated and connected to promotion of her memoir.
Original article
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