Trump’s $83.3 Million Penalty Still In Limbo
The $5 million award was one of two fines Trump has been ordered to pay Carroll in two separate lawsuits. The other, which carries an $83.3 million penalty, is still being appealed. Trump has also that decision to the Supreme Court after an appeals court let the ruling against him stand, but justices have not yet decided whether or not they’ll take up the case. Trump pointed to that request when asking the Supreme Court to reconsider the $5 million lawsuit, that rehearing was warranted because the issues he’s presenting to the court in the $83.3 million case request—like whether attacks against Carroll are covered by “presidential immunity”—are also relevant to the $5 million case.
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Surprising Fact
Trump was still trying to fight the $5 million fee in appeals court prior to Monday’s order, despite the money having already been transferred to Carroll. Trump’s lawyers filed a in July for the court to force the $5 million to stay in a court-controlled account until the Supreme Court issued a decision on rehearing, or to even be fully refunded back to Trump. The president’s attorneys argued the money was transferred too soon, given the Supreme Court had not yet issued its “final” word in the case, also claiming Trump hadn’t had an appropriate chance to appeal the court’s ruling allowing it to be given to Carroll. Trump’s request will likely now no longer be considered relevant following Monday’s order.
Tangent
The dispute between Trump and Carroll could move from civil court to the Justice Department, as Trump’s DOJ is reportedly investigating Carroll’s case. Reports in May indicated the federal government was investigating Carroll over comments made during the course of her litigation against Trump, though subsequent reporting revealed the target is actually believed to be billionaire Reid Hoffman and his nonprofit American Future Republic, which helped fund Carroll’s litigation. Carroll did not initially disclose the nonprofit’s help with her litigation in a 2022 deposition, with her lawyers later claiming she only later recalled “her counsel at some point secured additional funding from a nonprofit organization to cover certain expenses and fees.” Trump’s lawyers tried to use Carroll’s initial failure to disclose the funding as a justification for having the case thrown out, but were unsuccessful. Hoffman responded to the investigation on X in May, calling the Trump administration’s accusations of wrongdoing against him “absurdly false” and claiming, “The premise of the investigation would be laughable if the subject matter weren’t so serious.”
Key Background
Carroll publicly alleged in 2019 that Trump had raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s, which the president has strongly denied. Trump responded to Carroll’s allegations by attacking the writer and saying she wasn’t “my type,” which prompted Carroll to sue him for defamation. Carroll initially sued Trump for defamation in 2019 before then bringing a second lawsuit under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which accused him of both defamation and sexual assault. Though filed second, that lawsuit ended up going to trial first in 2023 and resulted in the $5 million verdict against Trump, with the jury finding him liable for defamation and sexual abuse, but not rape. Carroll’s defamation-only lawsuit then went to trial in 2024, with the jury only having to decide how much Trump has to pay Carroll, given that another jury already found he defamed her. That jury ordered him to pay $83.3 million with interest, which has been upheld in appeals court. Trump has continued attacking Carroll despite the eight-figure penalties against him, and Carroll’s attorneys have not ruled out bringing further litigation.
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Further Reading
Supreme Court Rejects Trump’s Request To Take Up E. Jean Carroll Case (Forbes)
Trump Finally Pays E. Jean Carroll $5.6 Million—After Repeatedly Trying To Delay Defamation Payment (Forbes)
Billionaire Reid Hoffman Blasts Trump’s E. Jean Carroll Probe As He Becomes A Target (Forbes)
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