The Supreme Court refuses to hear the case triggering the payout. 
Congrats to E. Jean Carroll
The Wall Street Journal reports Judge Orders Trump to Pay E. Jean Carroll $5 Million Damage Award
A New York federal judge on Wednesday ordered President Trump to pay the $5 million in damages a jury awarded to writer E. Jean Carroll after the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal of the defamation and sexual-abuse verdict.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan granted Carroll’s request on Wednesday for the damages plus interest, and Trump’s lawyers quickly notified the court that they would appeal.
In a court filing Tuesday asking the judge to hold off from distributing the funds, Trump’s lawyers said they had asked the Supreme Court to reconsider their petition. They said he faced an “unrecoverable loss” since the money likely couldn’t be recouped even if he eventually prevails.
A federal jury in Manhattan in 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll and ordered him to pay $5 million in damages. Carroll, an author and former Elle magazine columnist, testified at trial that Trump had raped her in a Manhattan department store nearly 30 years ago. The jury found him liable for sexual abuse but not rape.
Trump called the verdict a disgrace and said he had never met Carroll. After the Supreme Court rejected his appeal, he said he would continue to “fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength.”
The case is one of two civil lawsuits filed against Trump by Carroll. During a 2024 trial, a separate federal jury ordered Trump to pay $83 million for defamatory comments he made during his first term in the White House, in which he accused Carroll of fabricating the assault to generate publicity for her book. Trump denied wrongdoing.
A federal appeals court upheld the $83 million judgment. Trump’s lawyers have said they intend to ask the Supreme Court to hear that appeal as well.
Appeal Beyond Stupid
Jack Hopkins has the details on a totally stupid appeal in his report She Waited Seven Years for a Check That Cleared in Three Hours
Today a federal judge ordered the release of $5 million…PLUS nearly $800,000 in interest…to E. Jean Carroll.
The money had been sitting in a court-controlled escrow account for three years… deposited by a man a jury of twelve found…in under three hours…had sexually abused her and then defamed her by calling her a liar. The Supreme Court declined to touch his appeal on June 29. And the money moved.
They argued collection couldn’t begin while “proceedings remain pending.” They argued he should be repaid if some future reversal materialized. They filed late Tuesday night, the classic move of a man hoping the referee’s already gone home.
And the judge looked at all of it and pointed at one thing. The agreement he signed himself.
Back in 2023, Trump’s OWN lawyers agreed…in writing, signed off by the court…that the money would be released to Carroll if the Supreme Court refused to hear the case. Paragraph 8. Their signature. Their terms.
Carroll’s lawyer put it perfectly: “This is the end of the line.” Because the line had been drawn…in ink…by the very man now standing on the wrong side of it.
Carroll went public in 2019. Do the math…that’s seven years. Seven years of being called a hoax…a con…“not my type.” Seven years of appeals…immunity fights…delays…and every procedural stall a bottomless legal budget can buy. Most people quit at year two. Most people settle for pennies at year three just to make the migraine stop. She didn’t.
Every stall costs him money…interest…and credibility…while every day that passes proves the creditor isn’t going anywhere. Eventually…the delays run out of road. They always do. The interest alone…nearly $800,000…is the toll the man paid for three years of “no.”
That’s not just her win. That’s a receipt…framed and hung on the wall…for anyone who’s ever been told the little guy can’t outlast the big one.
There’s a second verdict in the $83 million defamation case still grinding through appeals. He’ll fight that one too. He’ll file at midnight…invoke every doctrine his lawyers can dream up…and wait for everybody to lose interest.
Bet on the mousetrap. Bet on the woman who doesn’t quit.
The powerful can delay a debt. What they can’t do…is delay it forever…not when the deadline is one they signed with their own hand.
P.S. Note the one move he couldn’t make: he couldn’t say the debt wasn’t real. Twelve jurors settled that in under three hours…the appeals court affirmed it…and the Supreme Court declined to disturb it; three justices he appointed himself among them…not one noted dissent. When even the referees you hand-picked…won’t throw the flag, the game is over. The only question left was the date on the check. She just cashed the answer.
Questions of the Day
Just how stupid is an appeal when you agree in writing to pay off if the Supreme Court refuses the case?
And how stupid was it in the first place to think think the Supreme Court would even take the case.
Finally, instead conceding and paying out, Trump stretched this case out, losing another $800,000 in the process.
In doing so, Trump resurfaced the case just in time for the election.
And how stupid is that?
Congrats again to E. Jean Carroll for a hand well played.
Musical Tribute
Sorry, but I still think this was a bullshit case and decision. L.A. psychiatrist and New York native Dr. Carole Lieberman tells me and insists that there is absolutely no way, given the layout of the “rape store”, that Carrol’s story held water. Claims deep familiarity with the store as a long time customer. Undoubtedly this will be unpopular with the TDS posters, but I’m up to here with “I was raped 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60 years ago and I want Just-Us” stories. Trump has undoubtedly done a lot of things over the years but this one always smelled.
Taco is getting off light. Of course, he is still seeking avenues to avoid this payment.
Perfect, sounds like she’ll get the $5M this week.
Let’s hope she lives long enough to see the $83M too. I’m guessing that is what drumpf is hoping for, that he will outlive her and not have to pay either sum.
I believe $5 million already paid.
Another $83 million on the way.