A federal appeals court has rejected President Donald Trump’s emergency request to prevent approximately $5.8 million from being released to writer E. Jean Carroll following her successful 2023 civil case against him.
The decision came hours after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the court clerk in Manhattan to transfer the money to Carroll. The amount consists of the original $5 million jury award plus interest accumulated while the funds were held in a court-controlled account during Trump’s appeals.
Trump’s attorneys asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for an immediate administrative stay that would temporarily preserve the funds while the court considered a longer request to delay payment. Circuit Judge Eunice Lee denied the emergency application Wednesday evening.
The ruling does not decide every remaining procedural request Trump may attempt to file. However, it removes the latest immediate obstacle to Carroll receiving the money that Trump deposited after the 2023 verdict.
TRENDING TODAY
That jury found Trump civilly liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a New York department store during the 1990s and for defaming her in statements made in 2022. Jurors awarded Carroll a combined $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Trump has consistently denied Carroll’s allegations and denied wrongdoing.
Trump appealed the verdict, but the Second Circuit affirmed it in December 2024. His request for a full-court rehearing was later denied, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined on June 29, 2026, to hear his appeal. The Supreme Court’s refusal to take the case left the lower-court judgment in place, although it did not represent a new ruling on the merits of Carroll’s allegations.
After the Supreme Court’s action, Carroll’s lawyers asked Kaplan to release the money under a 2023 agreement governing the court-controlled fund. Trump’s attorneys argued that payment should remain paused while they sought rehearing from the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court docket shows that Trump submitted a rehearing petition on July 8. Such a request does not automatically freeze enforcement of the judgment, and Kaplan concluded that the existing agreement permitted Carroll to collect the award after the Supreme Court denied review.
In explaining his decision, Kaplan wrote that Trump had delayed the case for years even though the jury’s verdict had survived the ordinary appeals process. He said the time had arrived for the judgment to be paid.
Because Trump had already placed the money into the court’s registry, the ruling does not require him to produce a new $5.8 million payment immediately. Instead, it authorizes the clerk to transfer the existing funds and accumulated interest to Carroll.
The dispute is separate from another defamation case in which a jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in 2024 over statements Trump made after she first publicly accused him. Trump continues to challenge that larger award through a separate appellate process.
The latest decision illustrates the difference between pursuing additional legal filings and obtaining an enforceable pause. A losing party may continue requesting reconsideration, but unless a court issues a stay, the prevailing party can generally move to collect once the judgment becomes enforceable.
Why It Matters
The ruling moves Carroll closer to receiving compensation nearly three years after the first jury verdict. It also demonstrates that even a sitting president remains subject to financial judgments arising from private civil litigation.
For voters, the case remains politically significant because it involves Trump’s conduct before and after entering public office. Legally, however, the immediate question is narrower: whether Carroll is entitled to receive funds that were already deposited while Trump pursued his appeals.
What Comes Next
The court clerk is expected to proceed with the transfer unless Trump obtains a new stay from a higher court. The Supreme Court may separately decide how to handle his rehearing petition, although such requests rarely result in a previously denied case being reconsidered.
Trump’s separate appeal of the $83.3 million defamation judgment will continue and is not resolved by the latest $5.8 million payment decision.
A federal judge ordered the court-held judgment and accumulated interest to be released to E. Jean Carroll.
Breaking News: A federal judge ordered that E. Jean Carroll should be paid $5 million after a jury found President Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. https://t.co/JykDW5R5qR
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 8, 2026
