Trump again urges judge to delay $83.3 million payout to E. Jean Carroll
March 04, 2024
Former President Donald Trump is once again asking a court to delay the $83.3 million civil judgment against him in the defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.
According to Aaron Katersky and Peter Charalambous for NBC News, Trump's attorneys Alina Habba and John D. Sauer "renewed Trump's request that Judge Lewis Kaplan delay the judgment for 30 days after Kaplan resolves the post-trial motions, or that he permits Trump to post a reduced bond of $24.475 million."
In a brief to the court, they wrote, "Remitting the $7.3 million award and the $65 million punitive award, as discussed above, would reduce the bond amount to $24.475 million, which would be more than sufficient to secure any minimal risk to Plaintiff."
Carroll said that the former president raped her in a Manhattan department store in the late 1990s. Trump has repeatedly claimed that she fabricated the accusation to sell books, which formed the basis of her defamation case.
READ MORE: ‘Mean girl on a revenge tour’: Kevin McCarthy has knives out for his ‘Gaetz 8’ tormentors
Two separate juries have now held Trump liable for defamation, with the first also holding him liable for sexual abuse.
Trump's attorneys already asked for a stay on the relief in late February, but Judge Lewis Kaplan denied it.
All of this comes as Trump also faces the prospect of paying $464 million in damages, plus interest, from the civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, in which Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump and his adult sons systematically lied about their property valuations to manipulate their tax liability and loan terms from banks.
Trump has also slow-walked and tried to delay bond payment in that case, which has led some experts to suspect he doesn't have the liquidity to pay everything he owes from these civil suits.