The United States Supreme Court has dismissed the attempt by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to revoke the $5.6 million compensation to columnist and writer E. Jean Carroll after being found liable for sexually assaulting her during an encounter in the fitting rooms of a New York department store in the 1990s.
The high court rejected Trump’s request to reconsider the judges’ refusal to review the civil lawsuit filed by Carroll. The judges had already dismissed a previous appeal filed by the president last June, forcing him to release the million-dollar compensation that is already in the writer’s possession. In an unusual petition, the Republican leader’s lawyers tried to have the Court reconsider the decision, but the judges unanimously rejected the request.
The court did not justify its reasons for rejecting the petition, which is common in this type of claim, as it usually does not entertain them because it considers that the facts have already been judged.
The journalist and writer already had the $5.6 million in her possession, which had been deposited in a checking account until Trump’s request was definitively denied, the judges explain. She will now have full and free access to the million-dollar compensation. The Supreme Court will also have to rule, probably starting in the fall, on another chapter of the case. This time for an $83 million compensation that Trump must pay Carroll for defamation after accusing her of fabricating the assault to boost book sales and insulting her.
The long legal battle between Carroll and the New York real estate developer began in 2019 when the journalist published a memoir revealing the episode of the alleged sexual assault in the fitting rooms of Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store located a few blocks from the Trump Tower, which stands in the heart of Manhattan. A jury found the Republican politician liable for sexual abuse and imposed a five million dollar compensation. In a parallel trial on the same case, Trump was also found liable for defamation and was ordered to pay another $83 million compensation.
The jury concluded that the New York real estate magnate attacked Carroll. When she published the incident in a memoir during Trump’s first presidential term, he devoted himself to defaming her and threatening to take her to court. She responded by filing two lawsuits, one for sexual abuse and another for defamation. She won both. But the president’s lawyers appealed until the case reached the Supreme Court, which ruled against Trump’s claims a few days ago. Trump’s legal team again asked the Court to revoke the five million dollar compensation for assault and now that request is dismissed.
Trump has always denied committing any crime and accused the judge of irregularities by allegedly allowing witnesses who fabricated other accusations. The occupant of the Oval Office also complained that the judge allowed the jury to hear past evidence such as a 2005 audio recording in which he is heard saying he likes to kiss women and grab them by their private parts. “You know, I automatically start kissing beautiful women; I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. I just kiss them. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything… Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything,” Trump is heard saying in the recording on the Access Hollywood program originally published by The Washington Post.
“The American people support President Trump and demand the immediate end of all witch hunts, including the Democrat-funded farce of Carroll’s lies,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement, reported by CNN. “President Trump will continue to win against the liberal legal war while remaining focused on his mission to make America great again,” the lawyers added.
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