Bill Clinton paid Paula Jones $850,000 to make a harassment lawsuit disappear and kept the presidency.
Trump just paid nearly $6 million to a woman his own jury refused to call a ra*e victim – and the Supreme Court just made that verdict permanent.
But what comes next could be the most important presidential power case in a generation.
Democrats Built This Trap
Here is something the media won't tell you.
The Left spent 30 years weaponizing civil courts against Republican presidents.
Paula Jones sued Clinton in 1994 for conduct that happened before he ever set foot in the White House.
Clinton claimed the presidency protected him.
The Supreme Court said no – unanimously – in 1997.
Democrats celebrated that ruling.
They used it to drag a sitting president into depositions, catch him in a perjury trap, and nearly remove him from office.
They built the weapon.
https://twitter.com/ejeancarroll/status/2089424267108585702?s=20
Now they're surprised it works on Trump, too.
Carroll filed her first lawsuit in 2019, the moment Trump was in office and she smelled political blood.
On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to reconsider its June decision letting the $5 million verdict stand.
Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan announced publicly that the jury's verdict – Trump sexually assaulted Carroll and defamed her – is now final and beyond appeal in any court.
Trump wrote the check in July – $5.63 million with interest.
Gone.
The Jury That Rejected Ra*e Still Cost Him Millions
The jury in the $5 million case specifically found that Trump did not ra*e Carroll – she claimed ra*e, they rejected it – but found sexual abuse and awarded her the full $5 million anyway on the defamation count.
That defamation verdict rested entirely on Trump calling her claims a "hoax" and a "con job" on Truth Social in 2022, when he was a private citizen between terms.
A New York jury put a $5 million price tag on those two words.
That verdict is now permanent.
The $83 Million Case Is Where This Gets Serious
The closed case is not the one that matters.
The Supreme Court has a live petition from Trump on the $83.3 million verdict – the first Carroll case, built around statements Trump made in 2019 while he was actually sitting in the Oval Office.
This is different territory.
https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2089382598988472532?s=20
Trump's lawyers filed that petition three weeks ago with an argument that should get every American's attention: no court in American history had ever held a sitting president personally liable for damages over words spoken while in office – until this verdict.
The federal appeals court upheld the $83.3 million award and rejected Trump's immunity defense, ruling his 2019 statements fell outside the protection of the presidency.
Trump's team is now asking the Supreme Court to revisit that conclusion using the court's own 2024 immunity ruling – the landmark decision that gave presidents broad protection for official acts.
Their argument: a president publicly defending himself against accusations of serious crimes is an exercise of his public role, not a private act.
If that argument sounds familiar, it's because Democrats made the opposite case about Clinton for years and lost.
Now they want the rules to run one direction only.
What SCOTUS Decides Next Will Apply to Every President Forever
The Supreme Court doesn't have to take the $83 million case.
If they pass, Carroll walks away with nearly $90 million combined and the precedent stands – sitting presidents can be held personally liable for millions in damages over things they said while defending themselves from political attacks during their time in office.
If they take it, they'll have to answer a question with no clean precedent: where exactly does presidential immunity end and personal liability begin when a president is fighting for his own reputation?
Whatever they decide applies to every president who sits in that office after Trump.
Democrats should think carefully about what they're asking for.
They built this machine to take down one man.
The Supreme Court is about to decide who gets to use it.
Sources:
- Emily Goodin, "Supreme Court again rebuffs Trump in $5M E. Jean Carroll case," New York Post, August 17, 2026.
- Amy Howe, "Trump asks Supreme Court to hear appeal of $83.3 million defamation verdict against him," SCOTUSblog, July 29, 2026.
- Fox News Staff, "Federal appeals court upholds $83.3M E. Jean Carroll judgment against Trump," Fox News, 2026.
- CBS News Staff, "Supreme Court declines to rehear Trump's appeal in $5 million E. Jean Carroll case," CBS News, August 17, 2026.
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