By Anietie anii-bassey
E. Jean Carroll has asked a federal judge to order President Donald Trump to immediately pay nearly $5.8 million awarded to her following a civil jury verdict that found Trump sexually abused and defamed her.
The request, filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, comes one day after the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear Trump’s appeal of the 2023 civil judgment, leaving the jury’s verdict in place.
Carroll’s legal team argued that there is no longer any valid reason to delay payment, saying Trump has exhausted multiple legal avenues in an effort to avoid satisfying the judgment.
According to court filings, the original $5 million award has increased to nearly $5.8 million after interest accrued during the lengthy appeals process. Carroll’s attorneys are asking the court to direct that the funds be released without further delay.
The filing also accuses Trump of continuing to make defamatory statements about Carroll even after the Supreme Court refused to review the case.
Carroll’s lawyers stated that shortly after the Supreme Court announced it would not hear Trump’s appeal, the president publicly criticized the case on social media, describing it as an example of what he called the “weaponization” of the legal system.
Minutes later, according to the filing, Trump’s legal team contacted Carroll’s attorneys seeking additional time while they considered asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision.
Carroll’s attorneys argued that such a request would only serve to prolong litigation that has already been repeatedly resolved in her favor.
Representing Carroll, attorneys Roberta Kaplan, D. Brandon Trice, and Maximilian T. Crema wrote that their client had previously agreed to several requests from Trump’s legal team to postpone payment while appeals were pending. However, they said that cooperation has now come to an end because every significant legal challenge brought by Trump has been rejected.
The lawyers argued that after years of litigation and repeated unsuccessful appeals, Trump should now be required to satisfy the judgment without further delay.
The underlying lawsuit stemmed from allegations that Carroll was sexually assaulted by Trump during an encounter in the spring of 1996 inside the dressing room of a luxury department store in Midtown Manhattan.
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During the 2023 civil trial, Carroll testified that what began as a friendly and flirtatious chance meeting turned into a violent sexual assault.
Trump did not attend the trial.
After hearing testimony and reviewing the evidence, the jury concluded that Trump sexually abused Carroll and later defamed her by publicly denying her allegations and attacking her credibility after she came forward.
Carroll first publicly disclosed the alleged assault in 2019 while Trump was serving as president.
Following her allegations, Trump repeatedly denied knowing Carroll and dismissed her claims as fabricated. He also accused her of making the allegations to promote her book and suggested they were politically motivated.
Those public statements formed the basis of Carroll’s successful defamation claim.
Trump has consistently denied all allegations made against him and has maintained that the lawsuits are politically motivated.
Although the Supreme Court has now declined to review the 2023 judgment, the legal dispute between Trump and Carroll is not yet over.
Trump is separately appealing another judgment awarding Carroll approximately $83 million in damages following a second defamation trial held in January 2024.
In that proceeding, the jury was instructed by Lewis A. Kaplan to accept as established the findings reached during the earlier trial—that Trump had sexually abused and defamed Carroll. Jurors were asked only to determine the amount of damages resulting from additional defamatory statements Trump made while serving as president.
That second jury ultimately awarded Carroll approximately $83 million in compensation, one of the largest defamation awards involving a public figure in recent U.S. legal history.
Trump continues to challenge that judgment through the federal appeals process.
As of Tuesday, attorneys representing Trump had not publicly responded to Carroll’s latest request seeking the immediate release of the nearly $5.8 million judgment.
The Manhattan federal court is now expected to decide whether Trump must promptly satisfy the award or whether any additional legal proceedings could temporarily delay payment.
The decision will mark the latest development in a series of high-profile legal battles between the president and Carroll that have unfolded over several years.
Original article
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