(Photo by Brendan McDermid-Pool/Getty Images)
Judge Lewis Kaplan is tired of Trump’s bullshit, and it shows.
Yesterday the court issued a withering denial of the former president’s request to stay the E. Jean Carroll defamation judgment during the pendency of his pretrial motions. Trump first made the request less than two weeks ago, arguing that he shouldn’t have to front the $91.5 million bond to stay collection of the $83.3 million verdict because he’s so rich that Carroll’s money is secure in his pocket.
“Trust me” is an odd argument for someone who was just ordered to disgorge half a billion dollars for years of lying about his finances. And it’s even odder coming immediately before a plea that Trump would be irreparably harmed by having to rearrange his finances to come up with the cash. But as with most of his motions before Judge Kaplan, this one fell on deaf ears.
Mr. Trump’s current situation is a result of his own dilatory actions. He has had since January 26 to organize his finances with the knowledge that he might need to bond this judgment, yet he waited until 25 days after the jury verdict – and only shortly before the expiration of Rule 62’s automatic 30-day stay of judgment – to file his prior motion for an unsecured or partially secured stay pending resolution of post-trial motions. The Court ordered expedited briefing and assured the parties that the motion would be decided as promptly as was reasonably appropriate, but due to the delay in its filing, the Court notified that it could not render any decision as quickly as Mr. Trump requested. Dkt 307. That remains true today. Moreover, the expense of ongoing litigation in the absence of a stay does not constitute “irreparable injury” in the relevant sense of that term. … Nor has Mr. Trump made any showing of what expenses he might incur if required to post a bond or other security, on what terms (if any) he could obtain a conventional bond, or post cash or other assets to secure payment of the judgment, or any other circumstances relevant to the situation. Accordingly, his present application for a temporary administrative stay (Dkt 313) is denied.
But, as it turns out, the defendant was able to find someone to underwrite him after all, and he posted the supersedeas bond this morning. The $91.6 million posted in conjunction with his appeal to the Second Circuit, appears to be financed by Chubb, Trump’s longtime insurance brokers. Trump has now managed to stay collections pending resolution of the appeal.
Of course, that also means that if (when) Trump loses at the Second Circuit, Carroll won’t have to try to collect it from him — she can just head over the to cash window at the courthouse. But that is a problem for another day.
Carroll v. Trump [Docket via Court Listener]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.