Appeals court stays Trump's $83 million payout to E. Jean Carroll

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, sitting in New York, ruled Monday that President Donald Trump should not have to pay the $83 million defamation award he owes writer E. Jean Carroll until the Supreme Court resolves whether or not to take the case.

According to NBC News, the ruling comes in response to a request from Trump's lawyers, who sought to stop a previous decision by the same court that had closed the door for them to challenge the award before the full court. Carroll did not oppose the stay, but imposed one condition: that President Trump raise the bond by an additional $7.46 million to cover interest that will accrue during the Supreme Court proceedings.

With that adjustment, the amount withheld as collateral is around $98 million.

"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. Representatives for the president did not immediately respond to the news outlet's request for comment.

Trump's defense is now betting on invoking a federal law that would allow him to substitute himself as a defendant and put the U.S. government in his place. Should the defense succeed, the case would be virtually nullified, because the Federal Government cannot be sued for defamation. However, the Second Circuit already rejected a hearing last month to evaluate that argument.

The damages stem from a 2024 ruling in which a jury agreed with Carroll and found that Trump had defamed her by repeatedly denying sexually assaulting her in a fitting room at the Bergdorf Goodman store in the 1990s. It is one of two defamation cases the writer maintains against the current president; the other, for $5 million, was also won by Carroll and has already been elevated to the Supreme Court by the defense.