Donald Trump posts $91 million bond in Jean Carroll defamation case

Former US President Donald Trump on Friday posted a $91.6 million bond to cover the defamation verdict in favour of writer E. Jean Carroll, and began his appeal of the case that arose from his branding her a liar after she accused him of raping her decades ago.

The bond from Federal Insurance Co, part of the insurer Chubb, would cover Carroll’s USD 83.3 million judgment if Trump were to lose his appeal of the January 26 verdict and refuse to pay.

The appeal stemmed from a Manhattan jury’s conclusion that Trump had defamed Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, in June 2019 by denying that he raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.

Trump faced a March 11 deadline to obtain the bond or set aside cash for the judgement after the trial judge, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, refused his bid for a temporary reprieve.

Kaplan on Friday gave Carroll and her lawyers until March 11 to register any objections to the bond.

Trump previously argued he shouldn’t have to post any security because Carroll was sufficiently protected, but Carroll said this boiled down to Trump saying “trust me”.

Lawyers for Trump and Carroll did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump is the Republican candidate for the November’s presidential election, and faces an expected rematch against Democratic incumbent Joe Biden, who beat him in 2020.

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s presidential campaign, said Trump posted the bond even though the judgement was “baseless” and part of a Democratic-backed “witch hunt.”