Author E. Jean Carroll arrives at the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals to ask former US President Donald Trump to ask a federal appeals court to overturn a $5 million jury verdict that found him liable for sexual assault and defamation against a woman who accused Trump of raping her nearly three decades ago in Manhattan, New York, US, on September 6, 2024.
Adam Gray | reuters
President Donald Trump’s lawyer late Tuesday night filed in court Urged a New York federal judge not to pay E. Jean Carroll nearly $5.8 million to satisfy a May 2023 civil judgment holding him liable for sexual assault and defaming the author.
Trump’s lawyers said the money could not be released to Carroll under a settlement unless the Supreme Court rejects the president’s long-running bid for reconsideration after the high court accepts his appeal of that decision.
The Supreme Court rarely grants such requests after rejecting an initial petition to take up an appeal, as when it said on June 29 that it would not hear Trump’s appeal.
Trump’s lawyers have petitioned the Supreme Court to rehear its denial, according to the new filing, which also included a copy of that request Monday.
“Collections cannot begin while the proceedings are pending before the Supreme Court, which is currently the case,” Trump lawyers Josh Halpern and Michael Madaio said in the petition filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
“Article 8 (of the agreement) does not permit collection while the trial petition remains unresolved,” the lawyers wrote, referring to the parties’ stipulation to keep the $5.5 million deposited by Trump in that court as security as he appealed the $5 million judgment in Carroll’s favor.
With accrued interest, Carroll’s lawyers say she is owed approximately $5.8 million. Trump listed the decision as a liability in his 2025 financial disclosure report released last month.
Trump’s lawyers also argued that another reason Carroll has not yet received any money is that the agreement includes that Trump must return the money he deposited if the decision is overturned.
“Carroll has repeatedly stated that she intends to give away all funds collected from her, and once those funds are distributed to third parties, they cannot possibly be recovered,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
Trump’s related new petition in the Supreme Court says that a rehearing is necessary because Trump will soon ask the High Court to hear arguments on whether he is immune from another lawsuit over statements made by Carroll about him while he was president.
Trump also lost that case in Manhattan federal court, where in January 2024 a jury ordered him to pay $83.3 million in damages for defaming Carroll after he strongly denied her 2019 allegation that he raped her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s.
And if she does have immunity in that case, lawyers said it could undermine the verdict in a second case that led to a $5 million verdict because Carroll’s lawyers introduced evidence of the same statements in that other lawsuit, in addition to statements she made while she was out of the White House in 2022.
That $5 million judgment relates to the same allegations Trump made against her and statements she made about him when he was out of the White House in 2022.
Carroll’s lawyers argue that she is entitled to receive that award, plus accrued interest because the Supreme Court last week rejected their petition to hear Trump’s appeal.
The court, which consists of three justices appointed by Trump, did not file any dissent on that denial, and did not explain its reasons for denying Trump’s request.
“This is the end of the line,” Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan asked Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to her, in a June 30 filing to release the money to the author.
Roberta Kaplan wrote, “It’s time for them to pay Carroll.”
“A motion for rehearing is likely to fail,” Kaplan wrote. “Requiring Carroll to endure further delays when the defendant is seeking a retrial would be extremely unfair and would undermine the public interest.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Kaplan had filed a proposed order with the court for the distribution of funds from the court’s registry. Judge Kaplan can sign that order if he agrees with Carroll’s lawyers that there is no legal reason to delay paying her.
But Trump’s lawyers said in a new filing Tuesday night that Carroll is still demanding payment.
They point to the language of the agreement signed by the parties in 2023, under which Trump deposited $5.5 million with the court as security for the judgment while his appeals were pending.
Trump’s lawyers said, “Paragraph 8 allows for (a) collection only after the latest of three specified appellate events.”
“One of those events is the final denial of the petition for certiorari,” or allowing the Supreme Court to hear the appeal, the lawyers wrote.
“And the second is the entry of an order after the Supreme Court grants certiorari regarding the appeal,” Trump’s lawyers said.
“Both provisions confirm that recovery cannot commence so long as the proceedings remain pending before the Supreme Court, which is currently the case.”