President Donald Trump was formally ordered by the court to pay E. Jean Carroll $5 million in damages after a Manhattan federal jury found him liable for battery and defamation.
That infamous verdict was handed down in 2023, and Trump, unsurprisingly, has yet to fork out so much as a dime to his victim. Now his excuses are becoming increasingly pathetic, desperate, and frankly ridiculous.
Ever since Trump lost his case to Carroll, who accused the now-president of sexually assaulting and raping her in the dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-90s, he has fought tooth and nail to overturn the jury's decision in the civil case and avoid paying what he legally owes, to no avail.
Now, CNBC reports that Trump's legal team has dropped a new round of excuses as to why he has yet to pay out the $5 million he owes to Carroll.
In the newest late-night court filing, the president's attorneys made two separate, but equally ridiculous arguments in an attempt to excuse their client's failure to follow the order handed down to him.
CNBC summarized Trump's first argument:
Money cannot be released to Carroll under an agreement unless and until the Supreme Court rejects the president’s new, long-shot bid for reconsideration of his petition that the high court take his appeal of that verdict.
The United States Supreme Court has already unceremoniously shot down Donald's most recent attempt to challenge and overturn the verdict against him in the E. Jean Carroll case. It is almost unheard of for the SCOTUS to grant an appeal after having just denied an appeal petition, as they did in this case just last week.
But the Trump legal team didn't stop there.
His attorneys went on to argue that Carroll should not yet receive any money because the agreement contains language requiring Donald Trump to be reimbursed for any money he deposited in connection with the case, should the verdict against him ultimately be overturned.
The Trump legal team specifically argued that Carroll "has repeatedly stated that she intends to give away all funds that she collects from him, and once those funds are distributed to third parties, they likely cannot be recovered."
This particular case is the first of two that Donald Trump has lost to E. Jean Carroll, with the second verdict awarding his victim a cool $83.3 million in defamation damages for the truly disgusting remarks he made about Carroll while defending himself against her allegations during his first presidential term.
Trump is calling on the Supreme Court to hear arguments regarding presidential immunity in that case, and his attorneys now argue that, should SCOTUS rule in his favor, the ruling would also undercut the original lawsuit.
In a June 30th filing, Carroll's attorney called on the judge to finally release the money owed to his client, writing, "This is the end of the line. It is time for him to pay Carroll."
