July 8, 2026 at 10:31 am Updated July 8, 2026 at 10:41 am NEW YORK (AP) — E. Jean Carroll can be paid the $5.8 million that was set aside after a jury found three years ago that President Donald Trump sexually abused her in 1996 before he became president and defamed her after she publicly revealed the attack, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued an order that says the money can be paid to Carroll, along with interest that has grown since the verdict. Carroll’s lawyers had requested the disbursement after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the 2023 civil verdict. Trump has already paid the money, which was set aside in a fund during the appeals process pending a court order.Trump had resumed defamatory attacks against Carroll as his lawyers conside