E. Jean Carroll Collects $5.6 Million From Trump After Supreme Court Rebuff

Q: With one multimillion-dollar judgment paid, what will decide the outcome of the separate $83.3 million verdict still pending?

The fate of the separate $83.3 million Carroll verdict will be decided by the remaining appeals, above all whether the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Trump’s challenge and, if it does, whether it upholds or overturns the judgment. That case is different from the now-paid $5.6 million award. The $83.3 million verdict came from a later jury trial over additional defamatory statements Trump made about Carroll. Trump has already posted a bond covering that judgment, so the money is secured while the appeal continues. The key legal issues are narrower than the underlying facts. Trump’s lawyers are pressing arguments that he was protected by presidential immunity for statements made while in office and that the United States should be substituted as the defendant under federal law, which could effectively wipe out the defamation claim because the government cannot be sued for defamation in that way. He has also challenged how the trial judge instructed the jury, including requiring it to accept findings from the earlier Carroll case. Lower courts have largely rejected those arguments so far. The Second Circuit has already turned away further rehearing efforts, leaving the Supreme Court as the main remaining avenue. If the justices decline review, as they did in the earlier Carroll case, the $83.3 million judgment would likely stand and become collectible. If they take the case, the outcome will turn on their rulings on immunity, substitution, and trial-error claims.

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 14

$5.6 million owed by Donald Trump was released to E. Jean Carroll on July 9 from a Manhattan federal court account, according to a July 14 docket entry.
Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the release a day earlier after the Supreme Court on June 29 refused to hear Trump's appeal of the 2023 sexual abuse and defamation verdict.
The money had been held in the court's CRIS registry system while Trump pursued appeals, under an agreement that allowed release if key legal avenues closed.
Trump's lawyers argued the funds should stay frozen while he sought Supreme Court reconsideration, but Kaplan denied extra time to respond and rejected the delay.
The payment covers the 2023 jury award; Carroll separately won $83.3 million in a 2024 defamation case tied to Trump's comments about her 2019 assault allegation.