The real reason Donald Trump can’t accomplish anything by trying to appeal the E. Jean Carroll verdict

| 9:51 pm EST January 26, 2024
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Now that a trial jury has ruled that Donald Trump owes $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll, a lot of people are asking what happens next. More specifically, people want to know if he can get anywhere by appealing the verdict. The answer is technically yes, but realistically no.

In order to appeal a verdict like this, you have to put the awarded damages in escrow. We saw this when Trump had to set $5 million of his own money aside in order to appeal the previous $5 million Carroll verdict. That way the money is already sitting there, and if Carroll wins on appeal, the money goes to her (if Trump wins on appeal the money will go back to him). So you can use an appeal to delay the other person from getting what you owe them, but you can’t use the appeal to hang onto your money.

In the previous trial, Trump was able to come up with the necessary $5 million so he could file an appeal. But while he’s spent today insisting that he’s also going to appeal the $83.3 million verdict, where’s he going to get $83.3 million from? Does he have that much cash sitting in the bank? That’s the subject of much debate. He seems to keep tapping his PAC to pay his legal fees, but this may be more than the PAC can cover. What’s Trump going to do, start selling off assets just to raise the money needed to file an appeal? He appears to be upside down on most of his assets anyway.

So it’s possible that Trump may not even be able to file an appeal over this verdict. In such case he would owe Carroll the money. The process by which Carroll would obtain the money is not an instant one. Trump’s assets don’t just fall through a trap door and land in Carroll’s possession. As with all legal processes, it can take months or more to play out. But there is also no such thing as Trump simply refusing to pay up. Again, there’s a legal process by which his assets would be taken from him, with no way for him to stop it.

The bottom line is that while E. Jean Carroll won’t get her money right away, there’s no stopping the process, and one way or the other Trump will now helplessly watch his assets start walking in Carroll’s direction.

Keep in mind that Carroll was never in this for the money to begin with. Regardless of how long it takes for Trump’s assets to make their way to her (or how little might be left after Trump loses perhaps $370 million next week in his New York civil fraud trial), Carroll has succeeded in getting the vindication she’s long sought. She’s also wrecked Trump in the process. And there really isn’t much that Trump can do about it.