Just when it seemed this years-long legal battle had finally reached a major turning point, there is yet another dramatic twist.
Less than two weeks after E. Jean Carroll received the $5.6 million payment tied to her civil sexual abuse and defamation case against Donald Trump, the president is now already trying to get that money back.
Yes, really.
According to The Independent and others on Tuesday evening, Trump’s legal team has filed for an emergency injunction that would require Carroll to return the funds that were released following a July 8 ruling. The payment came from a court-supervised escrow account after years of legal battles over the case, which dates back to Carroll’s allegations that Trump sexually abused her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s and later defamed her when he publicly denied her claims.
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As Perezcious readers will no doubt recall, this legal saga has stretched on for years, with Trump repeatedly challenging the verdict at nearly every stage. But in ordering the payment to move forward, Judge Lewis Kaplan made it crystal clear that he believed enough was enough. He wrote:
“Defendant has been stalling this case for years. A jury unanimously concluded that he sexually abused and defamed plaintiff and awarded her damages accordingly. The judgment on that verdict has been upheld on appeal.”
Judge Kaplan also pointed out that even the US Supreme Court, including three justices appointed by Trump himself (LOL), declined to review the case without any recorded dissent. In the judge’s view, it was simply time for the judgment to be paid.
Now, however, Trump’s attorneys are attempting another legal maneuver by asking an appeals court to intervene. An dCarroll’s lawyers are having none of it!
Per that news outlet, in court papers filed Monday with the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, they argued that the emergency request should be rejected outright, calling it “procedurally improper” and lacking legal merit. They also accused Trump of continuing a familiar pattern of delaying the inevitable.
As they put it:
“But rather than accept the reality that he had lost, [Trump] has engaged in a series of maneuvers trying desperately to forestall payment.”
That filing marks the latest chapter in one of the most closely watched civil cases involving the president.
A federal jury previously found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll after she testified that he forced her against a dressing room wall at Bergdorf Goodman, pinned her with his shoulder, and raped her. Trump has consistently denied those allegations ever since Carroll first went public with them in her 2019 memoir.
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Even after exhausting multiple appeals, Trump continued fighting the judgment. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court declined to hear his latest appeal, leaving the verdict intact.
And now, despite Carroll finally beginning to receive the court-ordered payment, this latest filing means the legal battle is still not over.
Whether the appeals court agrees to halt the payment process remains to be seen, but for now, the courtroom drama continues.
[Image via MEGA/WENN]
