Donald Trump was dealt a major legal setback in New York last week when, on 29 June, the US Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal in writer E. Jean Carroll's defamation case, leaving in place a judgment of about $5.8 million that he has still not paid, according to court filings. Within hours, Trump vowed on his Truth Social platform to keep fighting the case, despite the country's highest court effectively ending his legal avenue of appeal.
The litigation in which Carroll, a former advice columnist, accused the president of sexually abusing her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid‑1990s and then defaming her decades later. A New York jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation and awarded Carroll $5 million. The money was placed in an escrow account while Trump pursued appeals, and as interest has accumulated, the total now stands at nearly $5.8 million. None of it has reached Carroll.
