A federal appeals court ruled this week that President Donald Trump doesn’t need to pay an $83 million defamation award to writer E. Jean Carroll until the Supreme Court either reviews the case or decides to pass on it.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York issued the order Monday after Trump asked it to pause its earlier ruling denying him a chance to challenge the defamation award before the full appeals court.
The court granted Trump’s request to pause that ruling, citing no objection from Carroll so long as Trump agreed to raise the bond by $7.46 million to account for interest that would accrue on her award during further legal proceedings that are expected to extend to the Supreme Court.
“We are pleased that the Second Circuit conditioned the stay on President Trump posting a bond of nearly $100 million,” Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, told NBC News in a statement, citing the earlier increase Trump already posted to bring the amount owed to over $91 million prior to Monday’s order.
Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for a comment on the appeals court decision Tuesday night.
Trump’s attorneys are seeking to invoke a federal statute to swap him out as the defendant and have the U.S. government take his place. If it is successful, the move would essentially nullify Carroll’s case since the federal government cannot be sued for defamation. The appeals court last month rejected a request for a hearing on that argument.
A jury sided with Carroll in 2024, agreeing with her claims that Trump defamed her when he repeatedly denied that he sexually abused her in a dressing room in the 1990s.
Trump is trying to take the case to the Supreme Court after he has already asked it to consider his appeal in a separate $5 million defamation lawsuit against him that Carroll won.
