(NEW YORK) — While President Donald Trump attended the NATO summit in Ankara, a federal judge in New York on Wednesday ordered him to pay what he owes E. Jean Carroll after a jury held him liable for sexually abusing and defaming her.
Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered disbursement of the $5 million judgment plus almost $800,000 in interest.
“In the last analysis, defendant has been stalling this case for years. A jury unanimously concluded that he sexually abused and defamed plaintiff and awarded her damages accordingly. The judgment on that verdict has been upheld on appeal. En banc rehearing has been denied. The Supreme Court has denied certiorari without dissent,” Kaplan wrote in an order late Wednesday. “It is time for him to ‘do equity’ and pay the judgment.”
A New York jury in 2023 held Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s and defaming her in 2022 when he denied her claim, and decided she is entitled to $5 million in damages.
A jury in a separate but related case determined Trump owes Carroll an additional $83 million in damages, but that is still going through the appeals process.
The decision comes after the U.S. Supreme Court last month, with no dissents, declined to hear Trump’s appeal of the verdict and judgment.
Trump’s attorneys launched a long-shot bid to delay the payment and sought an administrative stay from United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, however, in a one-page order on Wednesday evening, the appeals court rejected his request for a delay, clearing the way for the money to go to Carroll.
The same court had already denied Trump’s initial attempts to appeal the case, in addition to the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Three years ago, Trump deposited $5.55 million in the federal government’s Court Registry Investment System — which effectively held the money in escrow during his appeal.
Judge Kaplan on Wednesday ordered the clerk to move the money into an account belonging to Carroll’s lawyers. The transfer of funds may have already taken place, though the court docket does not indicate either way.
After the Supreme Court decision, attorneys for Carroll asked a federal judge to order Trump to pay the money, saying Trump’s lawyers told them the president may ask the Supreme Court to reconsider.
“[A]fter four years of litigation across every level of the federal court system, it is time for this case to end,” Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan wrote in a court filing. “And under the Court’s Stipulation and Order, Carroll is now entitled to obtain payment of the money due under the judgment.”
In a post on his social media platform after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal, Trump vowed to continue to fight the case.
“I will continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength,” Trump said in the post.
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