Civil jury found Trump sexually abused Carroll in 1996. Two verdicts totaling $88+ million for sexual abuse and defamation. Trump denies all allegations and is appealing.
On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court denied review, declining to take up Trump's appeal; no justice, including his three appointees, noted a dissent, leaving the jury's finding that he sexually abused and defamed Carroll final. (The larger $83.3 million defamation judgment remained on a separate appeal track at the Second Circuit, per CNBC.) Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan said the decision “ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions.” Trump called it a “fake case” and vowed to “continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare.”
With the appeal exhausted, Carroll moved to collect. On June 30, 2026, she asked the federal court in Manhattan to order Trump to pay the roughly $5.8 million owed on the 2023 verdict, including interest that accrued during his appeals; her lawyers accused him of being “dilatory” and slow-rolling his defenses. Trump asked for more time, arguing that his lead counsel had left after being confirmed as a judge on the 8th Circuit and that his new lawyer needed time to learn the case. On July 4, 2026, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected the delay request in a one-sentence order and directed Trump to respond by July 7.
Days later his resistance to paying collapsed. Judge Kaplan ordered $5 million released from court-held funds to Carroll, writing that “it is time for him to 'do equity' and pay the judgment.” And the Second Circuit denied Trump's emergency motion to temporarily suspend the payment, finalizing it. The separate $83.3 million defamation judgment from the 2024 case remains on its own appellate track.
The money arrived the week of July 14, 2026: $5.62 million including interest, seven years after Carroll first went public and three years after the verdict. She announced it on her Substack under the title “The Eagle Has Landed,” writing, “THIS WIN IS FOR EVERY WOMAN IN THE WORLD!” Her lawyer Roberta Kaplan: “Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll. Today, we are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict.”
Then he tried to take it back. A week after the money reached Carroll, Trump's lawyers sought an emergency injunction ordering her to return the $5.62 million to the court's escrow account, on the theory that the Supreme Court might yet grant his rehearing bid and reverse the judgment. Carroll's lawyers were withering: “rather than accept the reality that he had lost, [Trump] has engaged in a series of maneuvers trying desperately to forestall payment... The judgment here is final, the money has already been disbursed, and Carroll is entitled to keep it.”
Update (September 30, 2026): Trump has given up the fight over the $5 million. The Supreme Court denied his petition for rehearing on August 17, 2026, according to a letter on the Second Circuit docket. On September 25 his lawyers and Carroll's filed a stipulation dismissing, with prejudice, his appeal of Judge Kaplan's order releasing the money, and he withdrew his request to pause it; the court's mandate, entered in the district court on September 29, reads, “The stipulation is SO ORDERED.” The court record shows $5,625,005.48 was paid out to Carroll's law firm in July. A spokesperson for Trump's legal team said, “The American People stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes.” His separate bid to have the Supreme Court overturn the $83.3 million defamation verdict is still pending.
Correction (September 30, 2026): this entry said the Supreme Court denied Trump's rehearing petition in July, as one of three losses within about 24 hours. The petition was filed July 8 and denied August 17, 2026, according to the Second Circuit docket; the July passage and key fact have been corrected.
Related entries: DOJ Was Reported to Be Investigating E. Jean Carroll; the Prosecutor Says It Never Opened a Case Against Her.
Correction (October 2, 2026): a key fact said the Justice Department “filed to intervene in the case ON TRUMP'S BEHALF” on May 6, 2026. The Second Circuit docket shows that on May 5 it filed a joinder as amicus curiae in Trump's motion to stay the mandate, saying it would petition the Supreme Court over its Westfall Act certification. It is not a party and not Trump's lawyer. A key fact describing the filing as an application of “unitary-executive theory” has been removed. The department's Westfall Act effort is now its own entry: Trump's Justice Department Asks the Supreme Court to Swap In the U.S. as Defendant, a Move That Would Erase His $83.3 Million Carroll Verdict.