Big Number
$98.5 million. That’s how much Trump now owes Carroll in the two cases combined as interest has accrued on the judgments, with $5.8 million now owed in the first case that went to trial and $92.7 million in the second. As a condition for letting Trump hold off on paying Carroll while he goes to the Supreme Court in the second case, Carroll’s attorneys also asked the appeals court to add on an extra $7.5 million to Trump’s bond. That will account for interest that could accrue through October 2027, in case the Supreme Court takes a while to rule on the case’s fate.
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What To Watch For
There’s so far no clear indication on when the Supreme Court could rule on taking up Carroll’s cases against the president: Trump has yet to formally ask the court to consider the $83.3 million verdict, and justices have punted for months on deciding the $5 million case’s fate. The court has deferred considering Carroll’s case at their weekly conferences 12 times, according to CNN, most recently last week.
Why Is Trump Investigating E. Jean Carroll?
According to CNN, the Trump administration’s investigation into Carroll focuses on comments she made in a 2022 deposition alleging there was no third party paying her legal fees—and her lawyers would only be paid if she won—and she was not clear who was covering expenses in the case. Before her first trial against Trump, however, her lawyers disclosed she had received some funding from the nonprofit American Future Republic, which is tied to Democratic billionaire Reid Hoffman. One of Hoffman’s advisors has previously said the billionaire gives money to American Future Republic without knowing specifically the cases that money will support—and in this case, Hoffman gave money before Carroll’s case was filed—and that clients receiving funds from the nonprofit typically do not know the identity of the donors. Carroll’s attorneys have also maintained the writer didn’t meet or speak with anyone from American Future Republic, and claimed Carroll only recalled after she gave her deposition that “her counsel at some point secured additional funding from a nonprofit organization to cover certain expenses and fees.” An appeals court previously ruled there is “no evidence to suggest that Ms. Carroll was personally involved in securing the funding, interacted with the funder, received an invoice showing the arrangement before or after her counsel received the outside funding, or had discussed the arrangement with anyone between learning of it in September 2020 and being deposed in October 2022.” CNN notes Trump’s attorneys deposed Carroll again about the donation, but that transcript hasn’t been publicly released, and the judge barred the president’s attorneys from asking about it at trial.
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Key Background
Carroll alleged Trump assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s, and the writer first went public with her allegations during Trump’s first term in 2019. Trump has strongly denied her accusations against him and responded by publicly criticizing Carroll, whom he said was not his “type.” The writer subsequently sued Trump for defamation, and then filed a second lawsuit under New York’s Adult Survivors Act for both defamation and assault while the first one got tied up in court. That second lawsuit ended up going to trial first, resulting in the $5 million verdict, as a jury found Trump liable for defamation and assault, but not raping Carroll. Since the two lawsuits were based on substantially similar comments Trump had made about Carroll, the jury at the second trial didn’t have to determine whether Trump defamed the writer, but only how much he should pay her in damages for doing so. The jury ordered him to pay $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages, which are meant to dissuade Trump from further defaming Carroll. Trump has continued to attack Carroll even since being ordered to pay millions for defaming her, and Carroll’s attorneys have not ruled out bringing further litigation.
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Further Reading
ForbesDOJ Opens Criminal Probe Into Trump Accuser E. Jean CarrollBy Siladitya RayForbesTrump Wants Supreme Court To Decide Whether He Sexually Abused E. Jean CarrollBy Alison DurkeeForbesAppeals Court Shuts Down Trump Effort To Kill $83 Million E. Jean Carroll CaseBy Alison DurkeeForbesWill Trump Pay E. Jean Carroll $89 Million? What To Know As Appeals Court Weighs Defamation CaseBy Alison Durkee
ForbesWhat Was Reid Hoffman’s Role In Funding E. Jean Carroll’s Case?By Ana Faguy