Overview
- U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected President Trump’s request for more time in a one-sentence order on July 4 and set short deadlines for him to respond and for the court to press toward payment.
- A Manhattan jury found Trump liable in 2023 for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll and awarded $5 million; interest has raised the amount held in escrow to about $5.8 million that Carroll now seeks to collect.
- The Supreme Court’s recent decision not to review the case left the lower-court rulings intact and prompted Carroll to ask the court to release the escrowed funds.
- Trump’s lawyers asked for an extension because lead counsel Justin Smith left after a judicial confirmation and new attorney Josh Halpern needs time to review the file, a request that Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan called a tactic to buy time.
- A separate $83.3 million defamation verdict from 2024 remains on appeal and could add to Trump’s civil exposure, while the immediate dispute focuses on the mechanics of enforcing the $5.8 million judgment and the practical steps the court may take to collect it.