It is time for him to pay Carroll.
After four years of legal maneuvering, the Supreme Court's refusal to hear Donald Trump's appeal has brought E. Jean Carroll's pursuit of justice to a threshold moment — one where the machinery of delay can no longer turn. A New York jury's finding that Trump sexually assaulted and defamed Carroll now stands without further appellate shelter, and her lawyers have asked a judge to transform that verdict into payment. At 82, Carroll has outlasted every procedural obstacle placed before her, and the question now is not whether she was wronged, but whether the law can compel what courts have repeatedly affirmed.
- The Supreme Court's Monday rejection closed the last formal avenue Trump had to avoid paying nearly $5.8 million — a sum still growing with interest.
- Carroll's legal team, having accommodated years of delay requests, declared in their court filing that their patience has formally ended.
- Trump responded on Truth Social by calling the case fake and vowing to fight with 'all of my power and strength' — a post Carroll's lawyers immediately entered into the court record as new evidence of the very defamation already adjudicated.
- Beyond this judgment, a separate $84 million defamation verdict from 2024 remains in motion, meaning Trump's total legal exposure continues to expand.
- The case now rests with the trial judge, who must decide whether the era of postponement has truly ended and compel payment.
On Tuesday, E. Jean Carroll's legal team asked a federal judge to compel Donald Trump to pay nearly $5.8 million in damages — a figure that has grown with interest since a New York jury first awarded it three years ago. The move came one day after the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump's appeal, eliminating what his lawyers had positioned as a final opportunity for review.
The case traces back to May 2023, when a jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a Manhattan department store dressing room during the 1990s, and for defaming her when she came forward. Carroll, now 82 and a former magazine columnist, had accused him of the assault and of publicly calling her a liar on social media in 2022. A federal appeals court upheld the verdict last year, rejecting Trump's claim that the trial judge had improperly admitted prejudicial evidence.
What Carroll's lawyers stressed in their filing was not the substance of the verdict — exhaustively litigated over four years — but Trump's sustained pattern of delay. He had sought postponement after postponement as the case moved through the courts, and Carroll's team had accommodated each request. With the Supreme Court's door now closed, they declared that accommodation over. 'It is time for him to pay Carroll,' they wrote.
Trump responded swiftly on Truth Social, dismissing the case as fake and vowing to fight what he called lawfare with all his power. Carroll's lawyers included that post in their filing — framing it as a fresh example of the conduct the jury had already found defamatory. The immediate judgment is not the full measure of Trump's exposure: a separate 2024 jury awarded Carroll nearly $84 million in a related defamation case, an appeal of which remains unresolved. Together, the two verdicts represent a financial reckoning that Trump has spent years trying to forestall — and the question now is whether a judge will finally make that forestalling impossible.
E Jean Carroll's legal team moved to collect on Tuesday, asking a judge to force Donald Trump to pay nearly $5.8 million in damages—a sum that has grown with interest since a New York jury first awarded it three years ago. The push came the day after the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump's appeal, closing what his lawyers had framed as a final avenue for review.
The underlying case reaches back to May 2023, when a jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in Manhattan during the 1990s, and for defaming her afterward. Trump denied both claims. Carroll, now 82 and a former magazine columnist, had accused him of the assault and then of calling her a liar on social media in 2022. The jury sided with her. A federal appeals court upheld that verdict last year, rejecting Trump's argument that the trial judge, Lewis Kaplan, had improperly admitted evidence that prejudiced the jury against him.
What Carroll's lawyers emphasized in their filing was not the merits of the case—those had been litigated exhaustively—but Trump's pattern of delay. Over four years, he had sought postponement after postponement as he worked through the federal court system. Carroll's team had accommodated each request. But with the Supreme Court's Monday rejection, they signaled the patience had ended. "Given the extraordinary lengths he has taken to avoid such payments and that each of those efforts has been denied in full, that cooperation ends today," the lawyers wrote. "It is time for him to pay Carroll."
Trump's response came swiftly. On Truth Social, he dismissed the case as fake and called the defamation claim ridiculous, vowing to fight what he characterized as weaponization and lawfare with "all of my power and strength." Carroll's lawyers included that post in their court filing—a fresh instance of the very conduct the jury had found defamatory.
The immediate stakes are substantial but not the full measure of Trump's exposure. In 2024, a separate jury found him liable for defaming Carroll in another instance and awarded her nearly $84 million. Trump has appealed that decision; a federal panel denied his appeal last year, but the case remains in motion. Together, the two judgments represent a financial reckoning that Trump has spent years trying to avoid or delay. Now, with the Supreme Court's door closed, Carroll's lawyers are asking the courts to make avoidance impossible. What happens next depends on whether the judge agrees that the time for postponement has genuinely ended.
Citações Notáveis
After four years of litigation across every level of the federal court system, it is time for this case to end.— Carroll's legal team
Trump called the case fake and vowed to fight the defamation claim with all his power and strength, characterizing it as weaponization and lawfare.— Trump, on Truth Social
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why did Carroll's team decide now was the moment to stop accommodating delays?
Because every legal door Trump could open has been closed. The Supreme Court said no. There's nowhere left to appeal. Continuing to wait would just be allowing him to use the courts as a delay machine indefinitely.
But Trump is still denying everything publicly. Doesn't that complicate enforcement?
It does in a way—it shows he's not accepting the verdict. But legally, it doesn't matter. The jury decided. The appeals courts agreed. His public statements now just become evidence of the defamation itself.
How much of this is about the money versus principle?
For Carroll, probably both. She's 82. She's been fighting this for four years. The money is real—nearly $6 million is substantial. But the principle is that a jury verdict should mean something. Right now it means nothing if he can just refuse to pay.
What about the $84 million judgment from 2024? Is that separate?
Completely separate case, separate jury, separate defamation. That one's still on appeal, so it's not enforceable yet. But it's hanging over him too. If both judgments stick, he's looking at roughly $90 million in total exposure.
Can he actually refuse to pay?
Not indefinitely. A judge can hold him in contempt, seize assets, or take other enforcement measures. But first someone has to ask the judge to do it. That's what Carroll's team just did.