Trump denied – A federal judge rejected President Donald Trump’s request for more time to respond to E. Jean Carroll’s demand for $5.8 million awarded after a 2023 civil jury verdict. The Supreme Court declined to review the underlying liability decision, and Trump must file
The timing was the point, and it didn’t move.
On July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in New York denied President Donald Trump’s request for more time to respond to E. Jean Carroll’s demand for $5.8 million. a sum she won after a 2023 Manhattan civil jury found him liable for sexually assaulting her and for defaming her by calling her allegations a “con job.” The order came as Trump’s legal bid to slow the process was already running out of runway.
The Supreme Court had declined on June 29 to review the $5 million judgment tied to that 2023 verdict. Trump then asked for additional time to respond to Carroll’s June 30 filing seeking payment of $5.8 million. including interest that has been accruing while he pursued his appeal. Kaplan’s one-sentence denial left only a new deadline in its place: Trump must reply by July 7.
Carroll’s filing asked the court to direct nearly $5.8 million from Trump to her at that stage. Her lawyers argued that interest should be included because it continued to grow as Trump sought review. In their June 30 submission. they also described Trump’s response schedule as a delay tactic. saying he was “dilatory” and slow-rolling his defenses.
In that filing, Carroll’s team delivered a blunt message about where the fight now stands: “But this is the end of the line,” her lawyers wrote.
Trump, for his part, argued that his ability to respond had been hampered by lawyer turnover. He said his former lead counsel in the case. Justin Smith. left after confirmation as a judge on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Trump added that his new lawyer, Josh Halpern, needed time to get up to speed on the case.
Carroll’s underlying allegations trace back to a claim that Trump assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Her lawsuit also said Trump damaged her reputation in 2022 when he attacked her claims as a “con job.” Trump has vehemently denied the allegations and disputed the Manhattan civil jury’s 2023 unanimous verdict.
The dispute is not limited to the $5.8 million demand. In a separate Manhattan civil case, a jury in 2024 awarded Carroll $83.3 million from Trump after concluding he defamed her in 2019 when he first denied her allegations. That appeal is still being litigated.
For now, the federal court timetable has tightened. With the Supreme Court declining review and Kaplan denying the request for more time, Trump’s next move—his reply due by July 7—becomes the next turning point in a case that Carroll says has been dragged long enough for the interest to matter.
E. Jean Carroll Trump Supreme Court Lewis Kaplan $5.8 million $5 million judgment civil lawsuit defamation con job July 7 deadline interest accruing