New York, July 14, 2026
Donald Trump has paid the former journalist E. Jean Carroll a total of $5.6 million (around 4.9 million euros) in damages for sexual assault and defamation, according to a court document published on Tuesday.
Confirmation by the attorney
Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan confirmed receipt of the payment. "We are pleased to announce that she has received the damages payment," Kaplan said with regard to her client. The sum results from two civil law verdicts against Trump as well as accrued interest, as the court document shows.
Carroll had accused Trump of sexually abusing her in 1996 in a fitting room at the New York luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman. A federal court in the Manhattan district of New York had held Trump liable in May 2023 in a civil trial for sexually assaulting Carroll.
Background of the allegations
The jurors awarded the former newspaper columnist two million dollars for the assault and three million dollars for subsequent defamation. Added to this were interest accrued after the decision, bringing the total to $5.6 million.
When the allegations became public in 2019 through Carroll's book, Trump called Carroll "crazy" and accused her of lying. These statements led to a second defamation trial in New York, in which Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million to Carroll.
Second defamation trial
This verdict was upheld on appeal, but its enforcement remains suspended. Last week, a federal judge in New York had ordered the payment of the sum from the first trial to Carroll, after the U.S. Supreme Court had declined to hear a legal remedy by Trump against the verdict. This made the verdict final.
The payment now made in the amount of $5.6 million stems from the first civil trial for sexual assault and the associated defamation. The $83.3 million from the second, separate defamation trial are not included and remain suspended due to the ongoing appeal proceedings.
Disclosure and reactions
The disclosure of the payment was made through a court document published on Tuesday. Carroll herself worked for decades as a columnist for "Elle" magazine before going public with her allegations against Trump. The case is one of the few civil proceedings in which a U.S. president has been personally convicted of sexual assault and defamation.
The White House initially had no comment on the confirmed payment. Neither Trump nor his attorneys commented immediately after the court document became known.