Federal Judge Confirms E. Jean Carroll’s $5.8 Million Award from Trump

New York – A federal judge has ruled that writer E. Jean Carroll can collect a $5.8 million award following a jury’s decision that President Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed her. The judge’s decision comes after Trump’s lawyers rapidly appealed to halt the payment.

President Trump has already placed the funds into an account. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court supported the 2023 civil verdict, facilitating Judge Lewis A. Kaplan’s release of the money. Originally set at $5 million, the award has increased due to interest.

The jury found Trump attacked Carroll in 1996 in a dressing room at a Manhattan department store, and later defamed her after she shared the story in a 2019 memoir during his presidential term. Trump’s legal team expressed their intent to contest the decisions, accusing political opponents of leveraging the legal system against him. They have submitted an appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Carroll’s representatives have yet to respond to requests for comment.

The jury reached its verdict without Trump present, following Carroll’s testimony of a seemingly friendly encounter at the department store that turned aggressive. Trump maintained he never knew Carroll, currently 82, and accused her of attempting to boost book sales with political motives.

An additional $83 million in defamation damages was awarded to Carroll by another New York jury after a January 2024 trial where Trump provided brief testimony. Judge Kaplan required the second jury to adhere to the prior jury’s conclusions, focusing only on assessing the new financial damages. Trump’s attorneys voiced concerns that trial regulations prevented them from claiming that the incident with Carroll never occurred.