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Judge orders E. Jean Carroll be paid $5.8M in Trump sex abuse and defamation case; Trump appeals

Published July 8, 2026 at 6:52 PM UTC

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A federal judge has ruled that writer E. Jean Carroll is entitled to collect $5.8 million in damages from former President Donald Trump after a jury previously found he sexually abused her in 1996 and defamed her following her public account. Trump's lawyers have appealed the decision to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming political motivations behind the ruling. They argue Trump was unfairly restricted from rebutting Carroll’s claims in court. Trump maintains he never met Carroll and denied the allegations. He is also appealing an $83 million defamation award from a separate 2024 trial, during which the jury was instructed to accept the 2023 findings as fact.