Court orders Trump to pay $5M sex assault restitution

A federal judge issued a Wednesday order allowing writer E. Jean Carroll to start collecting a $5 million civil judgment against President Donald Trump in Carroll’s sexual assault and defamation case against him. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the payment after the Supreme Court last week declined to hear Trump’s appeal to overturn the verdict.

Carroll is expected to receive the $5 million judgment, which remained in a court-controlled back account since the 2023 verdict, along with the accrued interest. Trump’s attorneys filed a notice of appeal on Wednesday in response to Kaplan's order.

Didn’t a court just rule that Trump could hold off on paying? The $5 million assault and defamation verdict is separate from the $83.3 million judgment awarded to Carroll for defamatory statements Trump made after she published a memoir accusing the president of sexual abuse. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a recent ruling in the separate $83.3 million case, allowing Trump more time before making payments to Carroll.