Donald Trump's legal bid to delay paying $5 million in damages to E. Jean Carroll has failed. A federal appeals court rejected his request to pause the payment while he continues pursuing further appeals.
Trump faces two separate civil judgments against him. In May 2023, a jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation after Carroll accused him of assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in 1994. In January 2024, another jury found him liable for defamation in a second trial when he repeated his denials of her allegations on social media and in interviews.
The $5 million judgment stems from the second defamation verdict. Trump's legal team argued that he should not pay while appeals continue, but the appeals court disagreed. The court's decision means Trump cannot block payment through further legal maneuvering at this stage.
This ruling removes one remaining barrier between Trump and financial obligation. He still faces other civil cases, including a separate $83 million judgment awarded to Carroll in the first trial (which also included damages for sexual abuse). That verdict is under appeal but has not been stayed.
For Trump, these judgments represent concrete financial consequences from civil court proceedings. Unlike criminal cases, civil trials require only a preponderance of evidence, a lower standard than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" threshold in criminal court. Two separate juries found him liable on defamation charges.
The appeals court's decision reflects a standard legal principle: courts typically do not stay judgments simply because a party intends to appeal further. Trump would need to demonstrate a strong likelihood of success on appeal and show that paying now would cause irreparable harm. The court apparently found neither argument persuasive.
Carroll's legal team can now move toward collecting the $5 million judgment, though enforcement may prove complicated given Trump's ongoing appeals in the larger case. The ruling does