Do ya remember when E. Jean Carroll won her first civil cases sexual assault against Trump? The jury awarded her $5 million, and Trump wanted to appeal. To do that, he had to either pay Carroll and try to get the money back later; or give the court $5 million to put in escrow. He did the latter.What does the appeal mean? In and of itself, nothing.
— Chris “Law Dork” Geidner (@chrisgeidner) July 8, 2026
The order is the order, so, unless Judge Kaplan or the Second Circuit do something to stop the judge's order from being in effect, the clerk's office is disbursing the money.
On June 29 if this year, the court (finally) denied Trump’s application for a writ of certiorari, without comment. Carroll went back to the court and said: time to release my money. Trump said: Oh, no! I’m not done yet! I’m asking the Supremes to rehear my application to hear my appeal. The appeal they aren’t interested in! But it could still happen!
No, it can’t. And today the trial judge ordered the clerk to give Carroll a check for the judgement amount, and the accumulated interest. So Trump appealed.
And I’m telling you this because appeals don’t automatically freeze lower court orders. As in the judgment at the end of the trial: Trump’s appeal didn’t freeze Carroll’s claim. Putting the money in escrow with the court did that. As Chris points out, unless Trump gets Kaplan (the trial judge) to stay his own order, the clerk has one job: obey the court’s order.
And the Second Circuit is not going to reverse the trial court because Trump thinks there are fairies at the bottom of his garden. Or stop the money from being released. Especially on the basis that there’s a risk that money goes to people Trump doesn’t like.
"Trump’s attorneys also argued that another reason Carroll should not get any money yet is that the agreement includes language requiring Trump to be repaid the money he deposited if the verdict is reversed," said the report.I’m embarrassed for the lawyers who wrote that. Because they clearly weren’t, and should be.
Specifically, the attorneys noted that Carroll “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.”
It’s the last line that makes it art(ificial). My understanding is, the Supremes refused the petition reconsider the application for certiorari, as of July 6.Trump has launched a last-ditch effort to avoid paying Carroll $5M plus interest, saying he would be "irreparably harmed" if the funds are disbursed now.
— erica orden (@eorden) July 8, 2026
He also says doing so "would undermine public confidence in an orderly judicial process.”https://t.co/mqS0BFkCQp pic.twitter.com/9rkNm3Czxh
Either way, unless the Second Circuit on its own motion stayed the order if the lower court, that money is no longer in the court’s escrow.
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