On September 6, 2024, in Manhattan, New York, author E. Jean Carroll arrived at the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Former U.S. President Donald Trump was scheduled to arrive to ask a federal appeals court to overturn a $5 million jury verdict that found Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation nearly 30 years ago.
Adam Gray | Reuters
In a court filing late Tuesday night, President Donald Trump’s lawyers asked a New York federal judge not to pay him nearly $5.8 million to satisfy a May 2023 civil judgment holding the author liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
Trump’s lawyers said the money could not be given to Carroll under the agreement unless the Supreme Court rejects the president’s request for a new long-term review request for the high court to hear an appeal of the ruling.
It is extremely rare for the Supreme Court to grant such a request after denying an initial appeal, as it said on June 29 that it would not hear Trump’s appeal.
Trump’s lawyers have asked the Supreme Court to review the denial, according to a new filing Monday.
“Collections cannot begin while proceedings are pending in the Supreme Court, and that is currently the case,” Trump’s lawyers Josh Halpern and Michael Madaio said in a filing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
“Section 8[of the agreement]does not permit collection pending a motion for reconsideration,” the lawyers wrote, referring to the parties’ stipulation that the $5.5 million deposited by Trump with the court be held as collateral when he appeals the $5 million judgment in Carroll’s favor.
Carroll’s lawyer says she owes about $5.8 million, including unpaid interest. President Trump cited the ruling as one of his responsibilities in his 2025 financial disclosure report released last month.
Trump’s lawyers also argued that another reason Carroll shouldn’t receive the money yet is that the agreement includes language requiring Trump to repay the money if the verdict is overturned.
Trump’s lawyers wrote that Carroll has “repeatedly stated that he intends to donate all the funds he raises, and that once those funds are distributed to third parties, there is a strong possibility that they will not be recovered.”
Mr. Trump’s new related petition to the Supreme Court says a new hearing is warranted because Mr. Trump plans to ask the high court soon to hear arguments on whether Mr. Carroll should be granted immunity from a separate lawsuit over comments he made about her while president.
Trump also lost in Manhattan federal court, with a jury in January 2024 ordering him to pay $83.3 million in defamation damages to Carroll, who strongly denied his 2019 claims that she raped him in a New York department store in the mid-1990s.
And if Carroll is granted immunity in this case, it could invalidate the verdict in the other case that led to the $5 million verdict because Carroll’s lawyers presented evidence of statements Carroll made while he was out of the White House in 2022, as well as similar statements in other trials, his lawyers said.
The $5 million judgment relates to the same allegations Trump made against her, as well as statements he made about her in 2022, when he was out of the White House.
Carroll’s lawyers argue that she is entitled to the award and unpaid interest since the Supreme Court last week denied her request to hear Trump’s appeal.
The court, which includes three judges appointed by President Trump, did not object to the denial or explain why it denied Trump’s request.
In a June 30 filing, Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, asked Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to Carroll, to release the money to Carroll, saying, “This is it.”
“It’s time for him to pay Carol,” Roberta Kaplan wrote.
“The petition for rehearing is likely to fail,” Kaplan wrote. “Requiring Carroll to endure further delays while the defendant seeks a new trial would be grossly unfair and would be detrimental to the public interest.”
Earlier Tuesday, Kaplan filed a proposed order with the court asking for funds to be disbursed from the court’s registry. Judge Kaplan could sign the order if he agrees with Carroll’s lawyers that there is no legal reason to delay the payments.
But Trump’s lawyers said in a new filing Tuesday night that Carroll jumped to demand compensation now.
They pointed to language in an agreement the parties signed in 2023 that says President Trump deposited $5.5 million with the court as security for the verdict pending appeal.
Trump’s lawyers pointed out that “Section 8 only permits collection after the ‘most recent of’ the three specified grounds of appeal.”
“One of those events was the Supreme Court’s final denial of the petition for certiorari, or leave to hear the appeal,” the attorneys wrote.
“And the other thing is that the order was issued after the Supreme Court affirmed the ruling “in connection with an appeal,” Trump’s lawyers said.
“Both provisions confirm that collection cannot be initiated while proceedings are currently pending in the Supreme Court.”
