
E. Jean Carroll receives $5.6 million from Trump after Supreme Court rejects appeal
The payment, including interest, ends a three-year effort by the president to delay damages for sexual abuse and defamation, though further appeals continue.
The writer E. Jean Carroll has received $5,625,005.48 from President Donald Trump, her legal team confirmed on Tuesday, after a federal judge ordered the release of funds held in escrow since a 2023 jury verdict. The payment represents the original $5 million award plus accrued interest, and was transferred on Monday following the US Supreme Court’s late-June decision not to hear Trump’s appeal. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan authorised the disbursement last week, rejecting a last-ditch emergency motion from Trump’s lawyers who argued the president would suffer “irreparable harm” if the money were spent before further appeals.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, stated that the writer was “pleased to report that she has received the damages payment.” Court filings indicate Carroll intends to place the funds in a retirement account. Trump’s legal team, in a statement, described the litigation as a “Democrat-funded travesty” and a “hoax,” and said the president “will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare.” Trump has consistently denied the allegations, calling Carroll a liar and asserting she fabricated the story to sell a memoir. The jury in 2023 found him liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and for defaming her in a 2022 social media post.
Viewed from Washington, the payment marks the first time Trump has been forced to pay Carroll, though it represents a small fraction of his estimated $6.3 billion net worth. The case was brought under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily allowed civil claims for older assaults. A separate federal jury in 2024 ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages for defaming Carroll in 2019, when he first denied her account. That judgment remains under appeal, and enforcement is suspended. Legal analysts in New York note that the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the $5 million case effectively makes that verdict final, though Trump’s lawyers have signalled they may ask the court to reconsider—a procedural move that rarely succeeds.
Trump’s legal team has indicated it will also seek Supreme Court review of the $83.3 million defamation award, after a federal appeals court upheld the judgment. The president continues to frame both cases as part of a broader pattern of politically motivated legal actions against him. Carroll’s attorneys have not ruled out further litigation should Trump repeat statements found to be defamatory. The disbursement closes one chapter of a multi-year legal battle, but the larger defamation judgment and the possibility of renewed Supreme Court filings mean the dossier remains active.
| Atlantic / Anglosphere press | +0.10 | neutral |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese press | 0.00 | neutral |
| Continental European press | 0.00 | neutral |
The American legal system has worked: after years of obstruction, Trump was forced to pay the damages awarded by a jury.
By emphasizing the long legal battle and Trump's repeated attempts to delay, the narrative creates a sense of delayed but inevitable justice, reinforcing the credibility of the judicial process.
The payment has been made according to the court ruling, without further comment or evaluation.
By reporting only the essential facts and figures, without any judgment, the presentation positions itself as pure objective information, avoiding any implication of bias or partisanship.
It omits Trump's vow to continue appealing, which could suggest the case is definitively closed.
The legal saga of Trump and Carroll is part of a broader pattern of lawsuits against the former president, including a separate $83 million defamation verdict.
By linking this case to other legal actions, the reporting normalizes the event as one of many, providing context that reduces the singularity of the story.
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