Trump posts $91M bond as he appeals E. Jean Carroll defamation verdict

Former President Trump posted a roughly $91 million bond Friday as he appeals the recent verdict in advice columnist E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit.

Trump had aimed to delay posting his bond or reduce the amount as he seeks a new trial and continues fighting the recent verdict.

But Trump posted the full amount of $91.63 million — 110 percent of the damages, as is standard practice — hours after the judge rejected the former president’s latest attempt to delay his Monday deadline.

Trump secured his appeals bond from insurance giant Chubb, but it remains unclear what collateral he put down.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who must approve the bond, ordered Carroll to file any response by Monday morning. If she voices opposition, Kaplan said he would hold a hearing on Monday at 3 p.m. ET.

Carroll’s legal team declined to comment. In a Substack post, Carroll wrote that although her lawyer “is strong enough to yank a golden toilet out of the floor at Trump Tower and toss it through the window, this bond saves Robbie the trouble of showing up with US Marshals on Monday to do so.”

With his bond posted, Trump is now seeking to halt enforcement of the judgment as he mounts his appeal, which Trump also filed Friday.

“Due to the numerous prejudicial errors made at the lower level, we are highly confident that the Second Circuit will overturn this egregious judgment,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said in a statement.

In January, a federal jury sitting in New York ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million for defaming the advice columnist in 2019 by denying her claims that the former president sexually assaulted her decades earlier.

A separate jury last year ruled Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll, leading the former president to cough up $5.5 million in cash. He will get the money back if he wins on appeal.

Staring down roughly a half-billion dollars in new civil penalties between Carroll’s latest verdict and another handed down days later in the New York attorney general’s fraud prosecution, Trump sought to punt paying up both sums.

But his posting of the full bond amount in Carroll’s case marks a sharp twist from earlier in the week, when the former president unsuccessfully urged U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, an appointee of former President Clinton, to delay enforcement. 

Trump argued he would face irreparable injury if forced to post the full $91.63 million bond amount and was likely to get the amount reduced through post-trial motions or on appeal.

Carroll’s attorney opposed any delay, suggesting Trump’s demands were “the court filing equivalent of a paper napkin; signed by the least trustworthy of borrowers.”

Kaplan on Thursday afternoon rejected one of Trump’s delay requests, but the judge has yet to rule on a separate request. Trump posted the bond after Kaplan signaled that ruling won’t come in time by Trump’s deadline on Monday, telling his lawyers they waited too long to file their motion. 

Even as Trump’s lawyers continued to demand the judge issue a delay, newly filed court documents indicate Trump signed his bond paperwork Tuesday by using Federal Insurance Company, which is owned by Chubb, as a surety.

Updated at 3:25 p.m.