A judge on Wednesday authorised the payment of a multimillion-dollar award to magazine writer E. Jean Carroll to satisfy a 2023 civil verdict in which a jury found US President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming her.
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan ordered the disbursement of nearly US$5.8 million to the former Elle magazine advice columnist, representing the original US$5 million verdict plus interest.
The funds had been held in escrow while Trump appealed the verdict, but the US Supreme Court on June 29 declined to take up the Republican president’s case. None of the nine justices, including three appointed by Trump, noted dissents.
Trump appealed against Kaplan’s order to the federal appeal 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 spokesman for Trump’s lawyers said in a statement.
Lawyers for Carroll had no immediate comment.
