Trump's emergency motion to stop payments to accuser E. Jean Carroll failed after another judge ordered him to pay up.
Late Wednesday, Judge Eunice C. Lee, who was appointed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals by Biden, ruled against a Trump emergency motion filed earlier in the day, Politico legal correspondent Kyle Cheney reported.
Carroll, a former magazine columnist, successfully sued Trump for defamation after she accused him of sexually assaulting her. A jury found Trump liable for sexual assault, and Carroll successfully sued him twice. She won $5 million in damages from a 2023 verdict and $83 million from a 2024 suit.
However, Trump hasn't paid Carroll. On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered Trump to hand over the $5 million he owed Carroll, and Trump tried to fight that with an emergency motion arguing he shouldn't have to pay because she plans to give the money away.
"Plaintiff has repeatedly stated publicly that she intends to give away any money she collects from President Trump, and she reportedly has even created a foundation to distribute the funds," the emergency motion reads. "They likely will not be recoverable — rendering any stay this Court might later grant, and any relief President Trump might later obtain on appeal, ineffective."
Trump's motion held out hope of a Supreme Court rehearing and argued that Trump shouldn't have to pay because he could still win that rehearing.
"Trump has presented a serious petition for rehearing," the motion read. "Plaintiff treats Supreme Court rehearing as though it were imaginary. It is not."
The motion warned that "Trump will be irreparably harmed absent a stay," and insisted that "the public interest favors preserving the status quo."
