The federal judge overseeing a New York defamation trial that resulted in an $83.3 million award to one of Donald Trump’s longtime magazine columnists refused Thursday to let the former president escape the financial straits of a verdict.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told Trump’s lawyers in a written order that he would not delay the deadline for the bond that would secure the life of 80-year-old author E. Jean Caro E. Jean Carroll could receive damages if he prevails on appeal.
The judge said any financial harm to the Republican presidential candidate was due to his slow response to a late January ruling in a defamation case over comments Trump made about Carroll while he was president in 2019. Carol revealed her comments raped her in her memoir.
At the time, Trump accused her of fabricating a story that he raped her in a dressing room at a luxury Manhattan department store in the spring of 1996. Last May, a jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages in a trial in which Trump did not attend, finding that Trump sexually abused her but did not rape her, as rape is defined under New York state law. of. It also concluded that he defamed her in a statement in October 2022.
Trump attended the January trial and testified briefly, but his remarks were tightly restricted by the judge, who ruled that the jury must accept the May verdict and only decide that Carroll was guilty of Trump’s 2019 How much damages, if any, are due for the conduct. statement. Trump claimed in his statement that he did not know Carroll and accused her of making up lies to sell his book and hurt him politically.
Trump’s lawyers challenged the verdict, which included $65 million in punitive damages, saying it was “very likely” it would be reduced or eliminated on appeal.
Kaplan noted in Thursday’s order that Trump’s lawyers waited 25 days to try to delay the date when bail would have to be posted. The ruling became final on Monday.
“Mr. Trump’s current situation is the result of his own procrastination,” Kaplan wrote.
Kaplan said the cost of ongoing litigation does not amount to irreparable harm.
Trump’s attorney, Alina Haba, had no immediate comment.
Since the January ruling, a New York state court judge in a separate case ordered Trump and his companies to pay $355 million in fines over their years-long scheme to pass financial statements Defrauded banks and others and exaggerated his wealth. With interest, he owes the state nearly $454 million.
