E. Jean Carroll Is $5 Million Richer — and Sets Her Sights on the Bigger Prize of Another $83 Million From Trump

The transfer on Tuesday of $5.6 million to the law firm representing the advice columnist E. Jean Carroll from President Trump could be a mere prelude to her claiming $100 million from the 47th president’s vast — and growing — fortune. “The Eagle has Landed” is how Ms. Carroll, who wrote for Elle magazine for nearly three decades, described the transfer of funds after a protracted bid to collect her payout from a victorious lawsuit against Mr. Trump. The money had been held in a court-controlled escrow account at the Southern District of New York. A notice on that court’s docket indicates that $5,625,005.48 was disbursed on July 9 to the Kaplan Martin firm.That total includes the $5 million verdict — plus interest accrued over three years — that a Manhattan jury awarded Ms. Carroll, 82, in 2023 after finding that Mr. Trump sexually abused and then defamed her following an incident at a Bergdorf-Goodman dressing room sometime in the 1990s. The next year another jury found that Mr. Trump further defamed Ms. Carroll when he called her a “nut job,” “mentally sick,” and “not my type.”That second award to Ms. Carroll was for $83 million. At the second trial — both were presided over by Judge Lewis Kaplan, whom Mr. Trump called “abusive, rude, and obviously not impartial” — the president was not allowed to challenge the underlying claim that he assaulted Ms. Carroll. The size of the award was intended to punish Mr. Trump and deter him from defaming her further. Ms. Carroll’s attorney, Robbie Kaplan, declared in a statement after the transfer was completed that “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.”Mr. Trump had mounted several last-ditch efforts to block the payment. He had appealed to the Supreme Court, which did not respond, as well as to the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which likewise stayed mum. Judge Kaplan on Monday dismissed those efforts by noting that Mr. Trump “has been stalling this case for years.” Mr. Trump had moved to recuse the judge from the case, alleging bias, without success.Mr. Trump’s obligation to pay the entirety of the $100 million he owes Ms. Carroll appeals had been paused in May pending his exhaustion of his appellate options. Late last month the Supreme Court declined to take up his appeal of the $5 million case, which triggered the transfer of that sum to Ms. Carroll’s representation. The president has moved for a “reconsideration” of that denial, but no such motion has been granted since 1965. The president’s appeal of his $83 million judgment, which was brought in a year later, is a step behind that of the smaller sum. A three judge panel of the Second Circuit voted unanimously to retain the verdict, writing that “the record in this case supports the district court’s determination that the ‘degree of reprehensibility’ of Mr. Trump’s conduct was remarkably high, perhaps unprecedented.” The panel found that the ”jury’s damages awards are fair and reasonable.”By a five to three margin the Second Circuit voted not to offer Mr. Trump the opportunity to make his case en banc, or to the full complement of the appellate court. One of the dissenters, Judge Steven Menashi — a former editorial writer for The New York Sun and an appointee of Mr. Trump — called the verdict a “manifest miscarriage of justice.” The jurist also asserted that the president’s defense was hobbled by an “extraordinarily prejudicial” series of evidentiary rulings.Mr. Trump’s last hope for avoiding a $83 million payout is the Supreme Court. His lawyers, their options exhausted before lesser tribunals, have informed the Second Circuit that they intend to appeal to the Nine. Mr. Trump will likely argue that Ms. Carroll’s second case — which turned on statements he made in office — was precluded by presidential immunity. The Supreme Court has held, though, that presidents enjoy absolute immunity from civil damages lawsuits for any actions taken while in office when they fall within the “outer perimeter” of their official responsibilities. Such protection is unavailing for acts deemed unofficial or private. Mr. Trump is also likely to argue that under a statute called the Westfall Act, he ought to be able to substitute the Department of Justice for himself in the case. That would end Ms. Carroll’s ability to collect because the act is intended to shield federal employees from common law torts like defamation — courts have long held that the government cannot be sued for defamation. The Second Circuit rejected Mr. Trump’s argument on this issue, reasoning that the protection is only available for acts taken within the scope of duty. Judge Menashi, though, would have allowed Mr. Trump to invoke Westfall.

E. Jean Carroll Is $5 Million Richer — and Sets Her Sights on the Bigger Prize of Another $83 Million From Trump

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