Trump asks judge to delay $83 million payment to E. Jean Carroll

Former President Donald Trump's legal team on Friday asked Judge Lewis Kaplan for a delay in requiring that he pay $83.3 million to write E. Jean Carroll.

A New York jury in January awarded Carroll the damages in a civil suit she brought against Trump over 2019 statements he made while in office denying her claims of rape. Carroll had claimed that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room some time in the 1990s. Trump has consistently professed his innocence. The case was delayed due to Trump's claims to enjoy presidential immunity, which Kaplan rejected.

"Defendant President Donald J. Trump respectfully requests that this Court grant an unsecured stay of the execution of the Court’s February 8, 2024, judgment, ECF No. 285, until 30 days after the resolution of President Trump’s post-trial motions under Rules 50 and 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which will be filed no later than March 7, 2024," his attorneys wrote in the filing.

They further argued that a "stay is warranted where the size of the bond, if any, remains uncertain because post-trial motions are very likely to affect the amount of the judgment" and insisted "[t]here is a strong probability that the disposition of post-trial motions will substantially reduce, if not eliminate, the amount of the judgment."

"The figure awarded to Ms. Carroll is egregiously excessive. The Court must exercise its authority to prevent Ms. Carroll’s from enforcing this absurd judgment, which will not withstand appeal," Trump attorney Alina Habba told The Hill.

The January award at issue included $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages.

In May of 2023, a jury held Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation related to statements he made out of office denying her claims, awarding Carroll $5 million.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.