Judge rejects Donald Trump's bid to delay $83m bond

A New York judge has rejected Donald Trump's request to have more time to secure an $83m (£64m) bond to pay damages to E Jean Carroll.

A jury in January found Mr Trump owed the former columnist millions of dollars for defamation when he denied he sexually assaulted her.

The verdict means Mr Trump has until next week to post a bond or deposit cash.

Mr Trump also owes over $400m in a separate fraud case.

A jury last year found Mr Trump sexually assaulted Ms Carroll, a former Elle Magazine columnist, in a Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman store in the 1990s. The jury found Mr Trump liable of defamation for lying about the assault in 2019, and in January he was ordered to pay her $83.3m.

Mr Trump was also ordered to pay Ms Carroll $5m in a separate defamation case related to the sexual assault last year. He put up the money shortly after.

Judge Lewis Kaplan made the verdict official in February and gave Mr Trump 30 days to post a bond or put up the cash.

On Thursday, Judge Kaplan said Mr Trump waited too long - 25 days - before seeking to delay the payment.

"Mr Trump's current situation is a result of his own dilatory actions," he wrote.

Ms Carroll's lawyers opposed the request, writing to Judge Kaplan that Mr Trump "asks the Court to 'trust me' and offers, in a case with an $83.3 million judgment against him, the court filing equivalent of a paper napkin; signed by the least trustworthy of borrowers".

A spokesperson for the former president said the decision was "a continuation of a totally lawless witch hunt," a frequent comment from Mr Trump's team throughout his numerous legal trials.

But the 77-year-old is facing mounting legal bills and damages this year.

In February, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Mr Trump to pay $355m - which amounts to more than $450m with interest - for fraudulently inflating his assets to secure better loan deals.

An appellate judge rejected Mr Trump's request to post a bond for just a fraction of the penalty in that case.

The likely Republican presidential nominee claimed this week that he was not worried about securing the funds in his legal cases.

"I have a lot of money. I can do what I want to do," he told Fox News on Tuesday.