A U.S. court has issued a major ruling in the closely watched legal battle between President Donald Trump and columnist E. Jean Carroll. Brushing aside all of Trump’s objections, New York federal judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the immediate transfer to Carroll of the more than $5 million Trump had deposited as damages in the case. Wednesday’s ruling defeated Trump’s last attempt to delay the payment.
The case dates back nearly three decades. Carroll, a former magazine columnist, alleges that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at a luxury New York department store in 1996. When Carroll made the allegation public in 2019, Trump dismissed it as completely false and fabricated.
After Trump’s comments, Carroll sued him for defamation. Following a lengthy legal process, a jury found Trump liable in Carroll’s sexual assault and defamation case in May 2023 and awarded her $5 million in damages.
Since that jury verdict, Trump has maintained his innocence and pursued appeals through higher courts, with the matter recently reaching the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court’s latest order comes as Trump’s lawyers had petitioned to hold back the funds, citing the Supreme Court appeal. They had argued that no money should be paid to Carroll while Trump’s request for reconsideration remained pending before the Supreme Court. However, Judge Kaplan rejected that argument. Carroll’s lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment following the court’s new decision. Trump’s lawyers said they would appeal the order to a higher court again.
A spokesperson for the Trump camp expressed anger in a statement: “The American people stand with President Trump. This fabricated drama that Carroll staged with Democrat money needs to end. We demand an end to this political vendetta. President Trump will fight off this legal harassment and stay focused on his mission to make the country great again.”
Trump’s lawyers had earlier argued in court that holding back the funds until the Supreme Court’s final decision would cause no harm to Carroll, but would cause irreparable harm to the president.
In a written filing, Trump’s lawyers said: “If the money is given to Carroll now, even if Trump later wins on appeal, that money can never be recovered. Carroll herself has announced she plans to donate the money to various organizations. Once the money passes into third-party hands, it cannot be retrieved.”
The lawyers further argued that holding the funds until the Supreme Court’s final ruling would cause Carroll no harm, since any loss from the delay could later be compensated through interest.
Last week, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s appeal to overturn the federal court’s ruling. Immediately afterward, Carroll’s lawyers asked the lower court judge to release the funds Trump had deposited. On learning this, Trump’s side hastily filed another petition for reconsideration with the Supreme Court.
This was the first of two lawsuits Carroll filed against Donald Trump. In a second defamation case filed in 2022, a jury fined Trump an additional $83 million. Trump has said he will also appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court by the end of this month.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report