SouthernWorldwide.com – Lawyers for President Trump have asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to not hear an appeal, requesting a delay in the disbursement of $5 million that has been held in a federal court account for three years.
This money was deposited by Trump’s legal team after a jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll.
Carroll and her attorneys have been attempting to claim the funds since the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal on June 29, which at the time appeared to finalize the matter.
However, Trump is now seeking a reconsideration from the Supreme Court. In a filing submitted on Tuesday night, his legal team argued that the federal judge overseeing the case should postpone releasing the awarded money to Carroll until the Supreme Court makes another decision.
Meanwhile, Carroll has successfully petitioned the presiding judge for an expedited process to receive the $5 million in damages awarded by the jury, along with accumulated interest from 2023.
Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s lawyer, has characterized Trump’s latest legal maneuver as “gamesmanship.” She accused the former president of attempting “to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying” Carroll.
Trump had pledged to contest paying Carroll shortly after a federal jury unanimously concluded, in less than three hours, that he more likely than not sexually abused Carroll. This finding stemmed from an encounter in a department store during the 1990s, where the jury determined he forcibly inserted his fingers into her.
Trump has consistently denied these allegations since they first surfaced in 2019. His denials, which include claims of not knowing Carroll, stating she is “not my type,” and labeling her story a “hoax” and a “con,” are central to her defamation claims.
In a separate defamation trial in 2024, Carroll secured another victory against Trump. This case also centered on his persistent denials of having abused her, with the jury awarding Carroll over $83 million.
Trump has also requested the Supreme Court’s involvement in this second case. This week, in his plea for reconsideration of the $5 million ruling, he stated his belief that the constitutional arguments in the second matter will overlap with those in the first.
The arguments that the Supreme Court initially chose not to consider in the $5 million case pertained to whether the trial judge had admitted inadmissible evidence.
In the $83 million case, Trump is asserting that presidential immunity should have precluded the jury from hearing certain defamatory statements made during his first term in office.
As of now, neither the Supreme Court nor the district court has issued a ruling on Trump’s most recent request.
