Judge orders E. Jean Carroll be paid $5.8M after jury found Trump sexually abused and defamed her

Judge orders E. Jean Carroll be paid $5.8M after jury found Trump sexually abused and defamed her NEW YORK — Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled that E. Jean Carroll must receive the $5.8 million awarded by a jury, plus accrued interest, after finding that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in 1996 and later defamed her. The decision follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear an appeal of the 2023 civil verdict. Carroll’s lawyers had sought the disbursement after the high court declined to intervene. Trump has resumed making defamatory statements about Carroll while his legal team considered asking the court to reconsider its decision. Representatives for both parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The jury reached its verdict after a trial in which Trump did not appear. Carroll testified that Trump sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a Manhattan luxury department store following a flirtatious encounter that turned violent. She was 82 years old when she first described the incident publicly in a 2019 memoir, during Trump’s presidency. Trump repeatedly denied knowing Carroll and accused her of seeking to sell books at his expense and of having political motives. In a separate matter, Trump is appealing an $83 million defamation award granted to Carroll by a Manhattan jury after a January 2024 trial in which he gave brief testimony. During that proceeding, Judge Kaplan instructed the jury to accept the earlier jury’s findings and to decide only the amount, if any, that Trump owes Carroll for statements he made while serving as president. Read the full story at Las Vegas Review-Journal →