Judge orders release of the $5.8 million payment that Trump owed E. Jean Carroll

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that E. Jean Carroll can receive the $5.8 million awarded to her after a 2023 jury found that President Donald Trump sexually abused her in 1996 and later defamed her when he denied her allegations.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan directed the release of the money from a court escrow account, along with the interest that has accrued since the verdict, after the Supreme Court refused last week to hear the president's appeal of the award.

The move came after Trump's attorneys sought to delay the payment for what would have been at least several more months, asking the judge to give them more time before releasing the money while they ask the high court to reconsider its decision.

Asked about Kaplan's order, a spokesperson for Trump's legal team said in a statement, "The American people stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes."

Lawyers for Carroll said their client, whom Trump was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming, had already waited long enough.

The case arose from a 2022 suit Carroll filed in New York alleging that Trump sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store after a chance encounter in 1996. The defamation claims stemmed from comments he made about her after his first term in office, including calling her claims a "con job" and "hoax." He maintains he does not know Carroll and didn't commit any wrongdoing.

Trump's attorneys contended the payment freeze should remain in effect until the Supreme Court decides on its request for a reconsideration, and said a failure to do so would potentially subject their client to irreparable harm.

They argued that Carroll, who is 82, "faces only temporary delay" for which she'd collect additional interest "unless judgment is overturned on appeal."

Trump, meanwhile, "faces unrecoverable loss" once Carroll collects because she "has repeatedly stated that she intends to give away all funds that she collects from him," and "once those funds are distributed to third parties, they likely cannot be recovered," they said.

Carroll's lawyers had noted that Trump's lawyers had agreed in 2023 that the money could be released if the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, an agreement that was signed off on by the judge.

Trump's attorneys argued the case was technically still before the Supreme Court because they asked the high court to reconsider the refusal to hear the case. Such requests are rarely granted, and Carroll's lawyer noted it could take several months to get a response from the court.

Carroll first went public with her abuse allegations in 2019. She sued him for defamation that same year, but the case was tied up in appeals for years over issues involving presidential immunity.

A jury awarded her an $83.3 million judgment when that case eventually made it to trial in 2024. A federal appeals court rejected Trump's bid to toss that verdict earlier this year, and his legal team told the Supreme Court it will seek permission to challenge that case in the high court as well.

Trump's legal team said that the second pending challenge is why the Supreme Court should reconsider the $5 million case. They argue that the jury was improperly shown Trump's statements blasting Carroll from when he was president in 2019, statements they contend in the other case were protected by presidential immunity and therefore should not have been shown to the jury.

They said they didn't raise the issue earlier because the precedent they're relying on — the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling which gave Trump some presidential immunity in his federal election interference case — came down too late for their appeal.

Carroll's attorneys said in a court filing last week that Trump appeared to be trying "to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying Plaintiff."

After the Supreme Court's decision last week, Trump posted on social media that day he would "continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com