Judge clears E. Jean Carroll to collect $5.8m judgment from Trump
Judge Lewis Kaplan of the federal court in Manhattan ruled on July 8 that E. Jean Carroll can collect the full amount from her 2023 civil verdict against President Trump. The sum is $5.8 million: the original $5 million jury award plus interest accrued since the verdict. The ruling followed the Supreme Court’s June 29 decision not to hear Trump’s appeal, which exhausted his challenges to that judgment.
The case stems from Carroll’s 2019 accusation that Trump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s; she sued for defamation after he denied it. A 2023 jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. A separate 2024 jury awarded her $83.3 million over additional statements, a judgment that remains on a distinct appeal track.
Trump appealed the payment order the same day it was issued, so the money is not yet in hand. But with the Supreme Court out of the picture on the underlying verdict, the legal room to keep contesting this portion is now narrow.