Trump Lawyers Post Bond in Support of $83.3 Million Award to Writer in Defamation Case
LARRY NEUMEISTERMarch 8, 2024
Former President Trump has secured bail sufficient to support an $83.3 million jury award awarded to writer E. Jean Carroll during a January defamation trial over rape allegations she made against Trump, his attorney said Friday as she notified the federal judge overseeing the case. rightly that an appeal was pending.
Attorney Alina Habba filed papers with a New York judge to show that Trump had obtained a $91.6 million bond from the Federal Insurance Co. She simultaneously filed an appeal to show that Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, will appeal the verdict. to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The filings came a day after Judge Lewis A. Kaplan declined to delay a Monday deadline for posting bond to ensure that the 80-year-old Carroll can collect the $83.3 million if it remains intact after appeal.
Providing the bond was a necessary step to delay payment of the award until the 2nd Circuit can rule.
Trump is facing financial pressure to set aside money to cover both the verdict in the Carroll case and an even bigger verdict in a lawsuit in which he was found liable for lying about his wealth in financial statements provided to banks.
A New York judge recently refused to halt the collection of a $454 million civil fraud fine while Trump appeals. He now has until March 25 to pay or purchase a bond covering the full amount. Meanwhile, interest on the judgment continues to rise, adding approximately $112,000 every day.
Trump’s lawyers have asked for that ruling to be stayed on appeal, warning that he may have to sell some properties to cover the fine.
On Thursday, Kaplan wrote that any financial damage to Trump is the result of his slow response to the late January ruling in the defamation case over statements he made about Carroll while he was president in 2019 after she claimed in a memoir that he told her in the spring had raped. 1996 in a dressing room of a luxury department store in downtown Manhattan.
Trump vehemently denied the claims, saying he did not know her and that the meeting at a Bergdorf Goodman store across the street from Trump Tower never happened.
A jury awarded Carroll $5 million last May after concluding that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll during the 1996 encounter, although it rejected Carroll’s claims of rape as rape was defined by New York state law. Part of the award also stemmed from the jury’s finding that Trump had defamed Carroll with statements he made in October 2022.
The January trial focused solely on statements Trump made in 2019 while he was president. Kaplan instructed the jury that it should accept the jury’s findings last May and decide alone how much Trump owed Carroll for his 2019 statements.
Trump did not attend the May trial, but he tested briefly and sat regularly with attorneys during the January trial, though his behavior, including disparaging remarks that a lawyer for Carroll said was loud enough for jurors to hear, prompted Kaplan to threatened to exile. him out of the courtroom.
Larry Neumeister writes for the Associated Press.
Fernando Dowling is an author and political journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of the political landscape and a passion for analyzing the latest political trends and news.