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Donald Trump is refusing to accept the $88.3 million damages verdict from E. Jean Carroll. Instead, the US President is deploying his Justice Department to take action against the author – an unusual step that blurs the lines between personal legal disputes and state power.

Carroll sued Trump in 2023 for sexual harassment and defamation. A New York court ordered Trump to pay $88.3 million in damages. Rather than settling this sum, Trump is now using the Justice Department's resources to attack the plaintiff – a course of action that legal experts are criticising as unprecedented.

Justice Department as tool in private dispute

The Justice Department under Trump's control thus becomes a tool in a private legal dispute. Observers see this as an abuse of state institutions for personal purposes. In her lawsuit, Carroll claimed that Trump had sexually harassed her in the 1990s and later defamed her when he publicly disputed her allegations.

The case reveals a fundamental problem: when a president deploys the judiciary against private opponents, the independence of the courts is called into question. Trump's strategy of using the Justice Department instead of private lawyers could also have financial motives – the state bears the costs, not Trump personally.

Carroll has already signalled that she will pursue enforcement of the verdict. Whether the Justice Department can actually take action against her or whether such measures will fail in court remains unclear. The case will be a test of how far a president can go when wielding state power against private individuals.