Trump accuser E Jean Carroll finally gets her damages

Donald Trump accuser E Jean Carroll finally gets her damages after lengthy court battle In short: E Jean Carroll, the only person to successfully sue US President Donald Trump for sexual assault, has received the damages awarded to her. Following a seven-year legal battle, funds of $US 5.6 million ($7.9 million) can now be released to the US journalist and writer. The president's legal team is attempting to claw the money back. American journalist and writer E Jean Carroll, the only person to successfully sue US President Donald Trump for sexual assault has received the damages awarded to her, but Mr Trump is trying to get the money back. In late June, the US Supreme Court rejected what was thought to be a final appeal from Mr Trump against Ms Carroll's civil claim over a 1996 assault. It meant $US 5.6 million ($7.9 million) in damages which had been deposited by the president could be finally released to her. But the fight was not over in the seven-year legal battle, which has turned her into the standard bearer for dozens of others who have accused the US leader of sexual misconduct. "So I have the money in my account, and Trump goes off his rocker and tries to bring a court injunction to get the money back!" Ms Carroll told AFP. "Why? Because he wants the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision." This week Ms Carroll said lawyers representing both parties had signed an agreement that the injunction was moot. Although she can now spend the money, she says she has little need for it. "I don't buy stuff. I know how to be happy...I mean, you don't really need a bunch of money now, not with the world ending,"she has said. A difficult process A second, much larger pay-out from Mr Trump to Ms Carroll is also working its way through the US court system. Ms Carroll said the money received "is going to go to everything he hates"— women's rights, minority rights, the environment. Damages of $83.3 million were awarded from a defamation case that Ms Carroll launched against Mr Trump after he denied sexually assaulting her in the changing room of a Manhattan department store and called her a liar. Ms Carroll recounted the legal fight in her book last year, "Not My Type". The title was a reference to Mr Trump's infamous statement about her when she first aired her allegations. The fight has been "hard, every single minute" Ms Carroll said. "Some of it was thrilling. Some of it was exciting. Some of it was exasperating. Some of it I wished 100 times I wasn't there, and some of it was very funny," she explained. "But it was all hard. There was not an easy moment in seven years. "I could do it because I didn't have children. I was older. I had nothing to lose." Ms Carroll said the lessons of her experience illustrated how difficult it is to gain justice and how the hopes sparked by the #MeToo movement against sexual assault have evaporated. "No woman would want to do this now. Do you see any women coming forward?"she said. "We've seen the statistics [on convictions]. We're not stupid. Women are laying low right now." Other accusers Ms Carroll also offered disturbing news from other accusers of Mr Trump, who she says form a "sisterhood". Many of them came forward and spoke to the media or made public statements about Mr Trump only to hear him say "terrible things" about them. "I can think of three of the women who took it to heart, have never gotten over it, and their families don't know what to do. They don't know how to help them," she added. As well as continuing to fight the defamation case, Ms Carroll needed lawyers again in late May amid reports that a federal prosecutor in Illinois had opened a criminal case against her. "I cleaned up the whole house and washed the toilets and got everything ready because I thought they were coming to arrest me. My lawyer was preparing me," Ms Carroll said. After days of anonymous sources briefing the media, the US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Andrew Boutros, publicly denied he had started an investigation. Ms Carroll expressed frustration at the regular threats she receives from supporters of Mr Trump, struggling to understand why powerful figures do not stand up to Mr Trump. "I'm the only person who succeeded out of all these Americans… It makes no sense," she said. AFP