Left: Former magazine columnist, E. Jean Carroll, center, enters a vehicle outside of Manhattan federal court following the verdict in her second defamation trial against former U.S. president, Donald Trump. (Jimin Kim / SOPA Images/Sipa USA via AP Images). Right: President Donald Trump leaves his apartment building, Friday, Jan 26, 2024, in New York (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura).
President Donald Trump needs more time to respond to a demand he pay millions of dollars he owes in the long-running defamation case brought and won by writer E. Jean Carroll, a recent court filing says.
Earlier this week, Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan made the demand after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Trump's appeal of the $5 million verdict in an orders list without a word of explanation.
In a memo, Kaplan explained the court's denial was "a final outcome that, as the Parties agreed and this Court expressly ordered, entitles Carroll to 'collect any moneys owed by Defendant to Plaintiff.'"
Along with the memo, Carroll's attorney filed a motion to expedite the briefing schedule should arguments be necessary to resolve a June 2023 agreement between the parties and a concomitant $5.55 million bond posted by Trump to pursue his appeals.
The next day, U.S. District Judge Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, no relation, signed off on the motion to expedite, setting the stage for a quick series of arguments in the Southern District of New York.
Under the proposed and "modestly compressed briefing schedule," Trump's reply is due by July 7 "rather than the usual" 14 days. After that, Carroll will have until July 10 to file her reply.
On Thursday, Trump's counsel implored the judge to reconsider and "allow President Trump the standard amount of time provided by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and this Court's Local Rules to respond to Plaintiff's motion for disbursement of funds."
In an accompanying legal memo, Trump's counsel complained about the speed in which the court granted the motion to expedite.
"President Trump has not yet had an opportunity to provide the Court with a response to either motion," the memo reads. "President Trump, by means of the present motion, respectfully asks the Court to amend its July 1, 2026 order, and reinstate the normal briefing schedule to which President Trump is entitled under the Court's Local Rules."
The 45th and 47th president's main argument, however, is that his previous lawyer is no longer available and his new lawyer needs more time to get up to speed on the years-long defamation.
"President Trump's former lead counsel on this matter, Justin Smith, has recently left the representation due to his confirmation to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit," the memo goes on. "President Trump's new lead counsel, Josh Halpern, requests the standard amount of time provided by the Rules to become completely familiar with the facts and procedural circumstances of this case, and provide an adequate response."
Specifically, Trump wants the standard 14-day clock to be reset.
"Plaintiff faces no risk of material harm as a result of granting this request," Trump's memo continues. "The judgment is secured by money in the custody of the Court, with sufficient accrued interest to cover any post-judgment interest that would accrue if the Court were to consider Plaintiff's motions on the timeline prescribed by the Local Rules."
In a same-day response, Carroll's attorney rubbishes the idea by arguing that Trump has had plenty of time to find a new lawyer.
"President Trump nominated (and the Senate recently confirmed) his former counsel in this case, Justin Smith, as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit," Roberta Kaplan noted. "But Mr. Smith was nominated (by Defendant) to the Court of Appeals more than five months ago, on February 18, 2026, and, as expected, he was confirmed to that position by the Senate on June 15, 2026. As a result, Defendant has had ample time to retain new counsel to substitute for Mr. Smith, and if he believed it was necessary to have new counsel come in given Mr. Smith's departure, he should have been acting diligently to do that since at least February."
Carroll's counsel goes on to say Trump's request "also ignores the fact that Michael Madaio, who remains counsel of record, has been involved in this case since it was filed."
"There is no reason Mr. Madaio should not be familiar with the matter and prepared to respond to Plaintiff's nine-page memorandum of law, which concerns a simple matter of reading the Stipulation and Order Regarding the Use of a Cash Deposit in Court as Security in Lieu of a Supersedeas Bond," the Carroll memo continues. "Defendant's assertion that he cannot respond to Plaintiff's Motion on the timeline ordered by the Court appears to be little more than yet another play for time."
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