Former President Donald Trump posted a $91.6 million bond on Friday after a jury ruled last month that he owed damages in a defamation lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, according to a court filing.
At the same time he posted the bond, Trump’s defense attorneys also filed an appeal of the jury’s verdict. Trump had made numerous remarks about Carroll while he was president amid his denials of her allegation that he raped her, and a judge determined Trump was liable for defamation as a result.
The former president had over the past week asked Judge Lewis Kaplan, through various requests, to delay the due date of the damages payment or lower the amount, and Trump indicated through his defense attorneys that he needed more time to secure a bond.
The bond he has now posted, so long as Kaplan approves it, serves as assurance to the court that Trump can pay Carroll should his appeal be denied.
Carroll, a former longtime Elle columnist, alleged in 2019 that Trump raped her in a dressing room of a Manhattan department store during a brief encounter one night in 1995 or 1996. Carroll received advice later in 2019, after she made the rape allegation, from attorney and vocal Trump critic George Conway to bring a lawsuit against the then-president.
Trump responded to the allegations at the time by repeatedly denying them, saying he did not personally know Carroll.
“I’ve never met this person in my life” and “she’s not my type” were among some of the public remarks he made about Carroll.
Carroll had first made the allegation in her memoir, which was published in the summer of 2019. Trump also accused her of fabricating the allegation to boost her book sales.
“She is trying to sell a new book — that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section,” Trump said.
Carroll alleged in her complaint that Trump’s remarks were false and that they had caused her to “suffer reputational, emotional, and professional harm.”
Before the jury reached a verdict on the defamation damages last month, a separate jury determined in a separate lawsuit last year that Trump sexually abused Carroll but did not rape her. That jury also found that Trump defamed her with other remarks he made about Carroll in 2022 and awarded Carroll $5 million during that trial.
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Trump has also requested a new trial for the lawsuit for which he just posted a bond, arguing that Kaplan unconstitutionally limited Trump’s testimony during the trial.
“This Court’s erroneous decision to dramatically limit the scope of President Trump’s testimony almost certainly influenced the jury’s verdict, and thus a new trial is warranted,” his defense attorneys wrote in their request.
