A federal judge has rejected President Donald Trump’s request for additional time in the legal fight over nearly $5.8 million owed to writer E. Jean Carroll, moving the long-running civil case closer to payment.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the request in a brief, one-sentence docket order issued on July 4. The ruling kept in place an expedited schedule requiring Trump’s legal team to respond to Carroll’s demand for the release of the money by Tuesday, July 7.
The amount comes from a 2023 civil trial in Manhattan. A jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the 1990s and later defaming her after she publicly described the alleged encounter. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million, with interest increasing the amount held for her to nearly $5.8 million. Trump has continued to deny Carroll’s allegations and has described the litigation as politically motivated.
The money was placed in an escrow account while Trump pursued his appeals. Under that arrangement, Carroll would receive the funds if Trump’s challenges failed, while the money would return to him if the judgment were overturned.
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The latest dispute followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 29 decision declining to hear Trump’s appeal. The justices gave no explanation for rejecting the petition, as is common when the court denies review. The decision left the lower-court judgment intact.
After that defeat, Carroll’s attorneys asked Kaplan to order the release of the escrowed funds. Trump’s lawyers then requested more time, explaining that new lead attorney Josh Halpern needed to become fully familiar with the case after former lead counsel Justin Smith left the legal team for a federal judgeship.
Smith, who represented Trump in the Carroll litigation and other major cases, was confirmed by the Senate in June to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Trump had nominated him months earlier.
Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to Judge Kaplan, opposed the extension. She argued that Trump had known for months that Smith could leave for the federal bench and therefore had sufficient time to prepare new counsel. Carroll’s legal team characterized the request as another attempt to delay payment.
Judge Kaplan’s short order did not include a detailed explanation and did not immediately direct that the money be transferred. Instead, it denied Trump’s request for more preparation time, leaving his attorneys to meet the existing deadline, release the funds or present another legal argument against disbursement.
The dispute is separate from another defamation judgment Carroll won against Trump in 2024. In that case, a different jury awarded her $83.3 million over additional statements Trump made while president and afterward. Trump continues to challenge that larger award.
Trump’s attorneys have suggested that legal questions in the two Carroll cases overlap and could eventually be considered together. Carroll’s lawyers have expressed concern that another effort to connect the cases could be used to postpone the smaller payment even after the Supreme Court declined to review the 2023 verdict.
The denial represents another setback for Trump in a case that has already passed through the federal appeals process. However, it does not resolve his separate challenge to the much larger 2024 defamation award.
Why It Matters
The ruling matters because civil judgments must eventually be enforced after defendants exhaust the available appeals process. Carroll’s attorneys argue that the Supreme Court’s refusal to review the verdict removed the principal reason for keeping the money in escrow.
The case also illustrates the financial and legal consequences public figures can face for defamatory statements. Although Trump is serving as president, the payment concerns a personal civil judgment rather than a government expense.
What Comes Next
Trump’s legal team must respond under the schedule set by the federal court. The judge could order the escrowed money and accumulated interest released to Carroll if no further valid basis for delay is accepted.
Separately, Trump is expected to continue challenging the $83.3 million judgment from Carroll’s second defamation case. That appeal may involve different legal questions, including arguments connected to statements he made while serving his first presidential term.
A federal judge rejected Trump’s latest request to delay the nearly $5.8 million judgment payment owed to E. Jean Carroll.
Trump denied bid to delay $5.8m E Jean Carroll judgment payment
A federal judge has denied Donald Trump’s request to delay paying a $5.8 million defamation judgment to E Jean Carroll. Trump must now pay the sum by Tuesday or provide further arguments against it.…
— PiQ (@PiQMarkets) July 6, 2026
