President Donald Trump will not have to pay the $83 mn defamation award to E. Jean Carroll before the U.S. Supreme Court gets a chance to review the case. The court might also reject his appeal, which would leave the award in place.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to a request from one of Trump’s lawyers. The court allowed Trump to delay payment to Carroll, a longtime advice columnist, while the next appeal step moves forward.
The appeals court required Trump to post a $7.4 mn bond. Carroll’s attorney had requested that amount to cover possible added interest costs during the delay.
Late last month, the 2nd Circuit rejected Trump’s request for a rare full-court rehearing. Trump had asked the entire appeals court to revisit a three-judge panel’s decision affirming the January 2024 verdict.
Trump lawyer Justin D. Smith then asked the 2nd Circuit to pause the effect of its ruling. He argued Trump should not have to pay the judgment before the Supreme Court has time to consider the appeal.
Smith said last week there was a fair prospect the Supreme Court would side with Trump. Trump has repeatedly rejected Carroll’s claims, calling them a made-up scam.
Carroll first publicly alleged in 2019 that Trump sexually attacked her in a dressing room at a Manhattan luxury department store in spring 1996. Trump denied knowing her and attacked her credibility and motives.
The $83 mn award came from a jury that briefly heard Trump testify. Jurors also watched his animated conduct in court across several days.
In September, a 2nd Circuit panel upheld the verdict. The judges wrote that Trump kept attacking Carroll for at least five years and made the statements more extreme and frequent as trial approached.
The panel said Trump continued those attacks during the trial itself. In one statement issued two days into the proceeding, Trump said he would keep defaming Carroll a thousand times.
Jurors in the defamation case had been instructed to accept findings from a prior jury.
In May 2023, that jury awarded Carroll $5 mn after finding Trump sexually abused her in the department store and then defamed her after she published the allegation in a 2019 memoir.
Trump is challenging the $83 mn award on several grounds. His appeal includes a claim of absolute immunity for comments he made while president.
Those comments included statements disavowing any knowledge of Carroll and accusing her of political motives. He also said her allegations were tied to efforts to promote her memoir.
