Judge Orders Release of $5.8M Trump Owes E. Jean Carroll

A long-running legal fight between President Trump and writer E. Jean Carroll has reached payday status. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered that the $5 million a jury awarded her in 2023—plus interest, which the Guardian reports brings the total to $5.8 million—be released from a court escrow account, reports NBC News. The AP reports Trump previously paid the money, which was set aside in said account. The Supreme Court last week declined to take up Trump's appeal of the verdict, clearing the way for the payout.

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Trump's bid to hold the funds for several more months while his team asks the high court to reconsider. Carroll's lawyers argued she had waited long enough. The Guardian reports Trump's team has filed paperwork suggesting he plans to appeal Kaplan's decision. But legal experts say Trump has a slim chance of success and that Kaplan's order nearly guarantees Carroll will get the money. Trump was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll over her claims of a 1996 department-store assault. In the wake of the order, a rep for his legal team called for "an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes."