Trump posts $91M bond while appealing E. Jean Carroll defamation judgment

NEW YORK – Donald Trump on Friday secured a bond for more than $91 million to cover the judgment in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case while he appeals.

A document was posted in federal court memorializing Trump’s agreement with Chubb, the insurance giant that underwrote the bond to cover the $83.3 million in damages that a jury awarded to Carroll in January for defaming her in 2019, when Trump was in office.

The bond still has to be approved by the judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.

The former president and likely 2024 Republican nominee to challenge President Biden had until Monday to guarantee payment of an $83.3 million judgment to Carroll, whom he defamed after she accused him of long-ago sexual assault. Trump also filed a notice saying he will appeal the judgment against him.

Carroll has sued Trump twice in connection with a forced sexual encounter in the mid-1990s and disparaging comments he made about her. Trump adamantly denies any encounter.

Trump has already posted more than $5 million in cash with the court from a separate lawsuit Carroll brought for sexual assault and defamation. He is also on the hook for securing a bond for more than $450 million in the New York attorney general’s civil business fraud case.