E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused Donald Trump of sexual abuse, has received $5,625,005.48 in damages and interest after the US Supreme Court declined to hear the president’s final appeal, according to court records and statements from her legal team. The payment, ordered by District Judge Lewis Kaplan, was transferred from a court-controlled escrow account on 13 July 2026, ending a three-year legal battle that saw a unanimous federal jury in Manhattan find Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation in May 2023. Carroll, 82, said in a message to supporters that she would place the sum in a retirement account.

Trump’s lawyers had sought an emergency stay to block the disbursement, arguing that the Supreme Court might still reconsider its denial—a procedural move legal analysts in New York describe as rarely successful. The president’s team has signalled it will file a fresh petition to the high court by the end of the month, this time raising arguments about presidential immunity. A White House spokesperson referred inquiries to Trump’s personal attorneys, whose spokesman, Aaron Harison, called the case a “Democrat-funded hoax” and said the American people “stand with President Trump in demanding an immediate end to all witch hunts.” Carroll’s lead counsel, Roberta Kaplan, stated that the jury’s verdict had been “confirmed in appeal” and that the payment represented the “damages the jury awarded as a result of that verdict.”

The transfer does not exhaust the legal entanglement between Trump and Carroll. A second federal jury in Manhattan ordered Trump in 2024 to pay $83.3 million for defaming Carroll in 2019, a judgment his lawyers are also appealing. Viewed from Washington, the conclusion of the first case removes a financial and reputational irritant for the president, but the larger award remains unresolved and could again reach the Supreme Court. Separately, the Justice Department disclosed this week that R&B singer R. Kelly has formally requested that Trump commute his 30-year prison sentence for federal sex trafficking and racketeering convictions in New York, as well as a concurrent 20-year term for child sex crimes in Chicago. Kelly’s attorneys submitted the commutation petition to the Justice Department, which made it public; no decision has been announced.

In Mexico, the Carroll payment was reported alongside commentary on the political fallout for Trump’s MAGA movement ahead of November’s midterm elections. La Jornada’s financial columnist noted that the case “will have a negative effect on the MAGA movement and the Republican Party,” while also highlighting unrelated tensions between the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the Mexican government over cartel infiltration. The DEA’s acting director, Terrance C. Cole, delivered a speech accusing Mexican authorities of links to drug cartels, a claim Mexico’s security cabinet rejected, citing a 76% reduction in fentanyl trafficking across the border. The Carroll payment, meanwhile, is final unless the Supreme Court grants the extraordinary step of reconsidering its denial. Trump’s legal team has until the end of July to file that petition.