Judge approves $8m payment to E Jean Carroll in Trump sex abuse case

US judge says E Jean Carroll can receive $8 million payment in Trump sexual abuse case Thu 9 Jul 2026 at 11:06am In short: A US judge has ruled that E Jean Carroll be paid almost $US5.8 million ($8.4m) set aside after a jury found Donald Trump sexually abused her in 1996 and defamed her when she publicly revealed the attack. Mr Trump has already paid the money into a fund set aside during the appeals process. What's next? Ms Carroll has accused Mr Trump of stalling as the president makes another bid to overturn the District Court decision. A US judge has ruled that E Jean Carroll can be paid almost $US5.8 million ($8.4m) that was set aside after a jury found Donald Trump sexually abused her in 1996 and defamed her after she publicly revealed the attack. Manhattan District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the payment to the former Elle magazine advice columnist, representing the original $US5 million verdict plus three years' worth of interest. Ms Carroll’s lawyers had made the request after the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal against the 2023 civil verdict. None of the nine justices, including three appointed by the US president, noted dissents. Mr Trump has already paid the money into a fund set aside during the appeals process. His lawyers lodged an appeal against Judge Kaplan's order in the federal appeals court in Manhattan less than an hour after the judge issued it. "The American People stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes," a spokesperson for Mr Trump's lawyers said in a statement. Ms Carroll's lawyers had no immediate comment. Trump's lawyers claim 'weaponisation' of legal system Mr Trump's lawyers had said Ms Carroll should wait to collect damages until after the Supreme Court reviewed Mr Trump's renewed bid to overturn the verdict. They argued Mr Trump would be irreparably harmed and face "unrecoverable loss" if Ms Carroll went through with her stated intention to give away the money, because once she did it most likely would not be recovered. They argued that if Ms Carroll received the money, only for the case to then go to the Supreme Court, it would "undermine public confidence in an orderly judicial process" at a time when Mr Trump's supporters and some critics, according to his lawyers, voice "concerns about politically motivated weaponisation of the legal system". Mr Trump petitioned the Supreme Court to rehear his appeal after the District Court order. The Supreme Court rarely takes up appeals after initially turning them down. Trump accused of stalling lawsuits Ms Carroll, 82, and Mr Trump, 80, have battled in court for almost seven years after she first publicly accused the president of raping her in about 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan. Mr Trump has rejected Ms Carroll's claims as a hoax and "con job", denying he knew her and saying she made up the alleged rape to help sell her memoir. Jurors awarded Ms Carroll $US5 million based on Mr Trump's denial in 2022, though they did not find that he raped her. A different jury in January 2024 ordered Mr Trump to pay Ms Carroll $US83.3 million in damages based on his original denial in 2019, which occurred during his first White House term. Mr Trump has said he deserves presidential immunity for that denial. In September, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan declined to throw out the $US83.3 million verdict. Mr Trump plans to appeal against that decision to the Supreme Court and his lawyers said a successful appeal could undermine the basis for the $US5 million verdict. Ms Carroll has accused Mr Trump of stalling both lawsuits to avoid accountability. Reuters/ABC