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Judge orders E. Jean Carroll be paid $5.8M in Trump sex abuse and defamation case
PBS • • general
Key Points:
- A federal judge ruled that writer E. Jean Carroll can collect $5.8 million held in escrow after a jury found that former President Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed her; Trump’s lawyers immediately appealed to stop the payment.
- The initial $5 million award has increased with interest and was deposited by Trump in an account, with the U.S. Supreme Court recently allowing the 2023 civil verdict to stand.
- Carroll sued Trump after New York changed laws to allow survivors to sue for past sexual abuse; the jury found Trump assaulted Carroll in 1996 and defamed her after she publicly described the incident in 2019.
- Trump continues to appeal both the $5.8 million payment and a separate $83 million defamation award from a 2024 trial, claiming political motives and disputing the jury instructions that barred him from denying the encounter.
- Circuit Judge Denny Chin highlighted that Trump’s repeated public statements led to Carroll’s harassment and death threats, with Trump showing no remorse and vowing to continue defaming her.
