Explore how Trump's policies and actions are reshaping the USA's status and challenging the global order, leading to potential third-world implications.
Supreme Court declines to hear Trump appeal of E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse verdict
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The Supreme Court Monday declined to take up an appeal from President Donald Trump over a $5 million verdict and finding that he sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll, a decision that means the president will now have to pay the magazine columnist.
Carroll sued Trump in 2019 for defamation and then she sued him again in 2022 for defamation and battery after New York enacted a law allowing the victims of sexual abuse to file civil claims for past incidents. In an unusual quirk, the second case — the one filed in 2022 — went to trial first and the jury awarded Carroll $5 million.
The 2019 case went to trial second and resulted in an $83 million judgment against Trump. Including interest, Trump owes Carroll over $100 million in all.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision affirms once and for all the jury’s unanimous verdict that President Donald J. Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll,” Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said. “His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today’s ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions.”
Carroll’s 2022 lawsuit alleged that he sexually assaulted her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s and defamed her by claiming she made up the story to boost sales of a book. Trump, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, has claimed US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw the civil trial, made numerous errors by allowing the jury to hear testimony from two women who alleged Trump sexually assaulted them years ago.
Trump also argued that the judge should not have let the jurors see the “Access Hollywood tape,” which captured Trump in 2005 on a hot mic saying he gropes and kisses women.
“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything, … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything,” Trump was heard saying on the recording.
A spokesman for the president’s legal team said in a statement Monday, that the “American People stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes.”
“President Trump will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare, as he continues to focus on his mission to Make America Great Again,” the statement went on.
Last year, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the jury’s $5 million verdict against Trump, ruling the trial judge did not make errors that would warrant a new trial. In June 2025, Trump lost an effort to have the appeal reviewed by the full bench of judges and, months later, he appealed to the Supreme Court.
“It is deeply damaging to the fabric of our republic for President Trump, in the midst of a historic presidency, to have to take his focus away from his singular and unique duties as chief executive to continue fighting against decades-old, false allegations and the myriad wrongs throughout this baseless case,” the president’s attorneys told the Supreme Court in a January filing. “This mistreatment of a President cannot be allowed to stand.”
The appeal was delayed for months at the Supreme Court, which repeatedly set it for discussion and then rescheduled that discussion. As always, the court did not explain its reasoning for the hold up. Trump’s attorneys are expected to appeal the $83 million verdict to the Supreme Court in coming days.
In a technical brief at the Supreme Court dealing with rules of evidence, Carroll’s attorneys focused largely on the 2nd Circuit decision upholding the verdict.
“The court’s duty was simply to decide whether a jury could reasonably find by a preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Trump committed an act of sexual assault,” a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit, all three of whom were appointed by Democratic presidents, ruled unanimously. “If it could so find, the court had the discretion to admit the evidence.”
Trump transferred $5.5 million to a court-controlled account in 2023 following the jury verdict so Carroll is likely to receive the cash relatively quickly.
Carroll’s lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
The secret agreement was routed through a White House office that typically handles repairs and furnishings and is exempt from competitive bidding requirements.
June 30, 2026
Construction continues on the East Wing ballroom Monday. (Aaron Schwartz/Reuters)
Sarah and Jonathan are investigative reporters who are interested in learning more about the East Wing ballroom project. Reach them securely on Signal at SarahBlaskey.25 and Jonathanoc.76
White House officials last year secretly awarded a no-bid contract worth up to $500 million for the construction of the East Wing ballroomin an unusual arrangement that sidestepped typical contracting procedures designed to control costs, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Washington Post.
The White House routed the contract through the Executive Residence, the document shows, an office that is exempt from rules that require federal agencies to solicit competitive bids and disclose details to the public. The office is typically responsible for routine repairs, entertainment expenses, and the purchase of furniture, art and other items for the executive mansion.
The confidential contract with Clark Construction, along with related correspondence and records obtained by The Post, reveal for the first time how the Trump administration bypassed norms last summer as it set the ballroom project in motion.
Records also show that President Donald Trump was directly involved in negotiating some costs for the project.
The East Wing contract is the latest example of the administration turning to no-bid deals to hasten a Trump-style makeover of the nation’s capital, which has included handpicking firms to upgrade Lafayette Square, the public park next to the White House, and to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Competitive bidding is generally required at most federal agencies. Experts said the Executive Residence is exempt from those rules, and the president has legal authority to hire companies of his choosing to make changes to the executive mansion and the surrounding grounds. The experts said soliciting bids would have ensured the best price for taxpayers, especially given the size and cost of the East Wing project.
“I would certainly expect them to compete a project of this size and complexity,” said Anthony Costa, a former General Services Administration official who oversaw complex government real estate projects during a career that spanned four presidential administrations.
The estimated East Wing construction cost has tripled since July, when the project was first announced, with half expected to come from taxpayers, The Post previously reported.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the ballroom would be paid for by private donors andonce said that Clark executives offered to build it for free.
“They said: ‘Sir, we’ll do it for nothing. This is the greatest honor,” Trump told the New York Times in January.
Clark’s internal cost projections show the McLean, Virginia-based company, the largest general contractor in the D.C. metro area, stands to make tens of millions of dollars from the work.
Clark charged a 3 percent profit for its early work on the East Wing, records show, a rate that experts said was typical for large government construction projects.
The records reviewed by The Post do not break out Clark’s estimated profit margin for the entire project, but a March document shows the company projected it would receive a total of $65 million in combined profit, overhead and daily rates for on-site staff and other costs.
A White House official said in a statement that the East Wing contract was issued through the Executive Residence because that office “will be the primary support of the facility.” The Executive Residence is a division of the Executive Office of the President, which the statement said “consistently executes contracts following the law.”
A Clark spokesperson said in a statement that the firm has been a federal contractor for more than 80 years, adding: “We follow established procurement and contracting processes for each project and execute the work consistent with schedule, budget, delivery, and contractual requirements.”
The Trump administration tasked Clark with site preparation and other preliminary worklast July, months before the East Wing was demolished, records show. That work was performed under a separate, existing Executive Residence contract the company had won in 2024, during the Biden administration.
The Biden-era contract covered “a wide variety of maintenance, repair, alteration and construction type tasks” that might arise at the White House over five years. It was awarded to Clark after a competitive bidding process and had a ceiling of $500 million, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Post.
The White House official told The Post that Clark’s Biden-era contract was “missing various clauses necessary for construction contracts.”
By mid-August, records show, Trump administration officials began negotiatingthe new, no-bid agreement for Clark to “fully demolish the East Wing and East Colonnade and construct a modernized East Wing facility.”
In an email exchange in early September, White House officials explained that they could award the no-bid contract to Clark because the Executive Residence is not bound by competitive bidding requirements, although it often follows them.
The email cited a federal law that authorizes the president to freelyspend for the “care, maintenance, repair, alteration, refurnishing, improvement, air-conditioning, heating, and lighting” of the White House residence.
In a court case challenging the legality of the ballroom project, the Trump administration has cited the same law as the basis for its authority to undertake the project. The litigation has not surfaced the fact that the contract was awarded without competitive bidding.
A federal judge rejected the administration’s position, concluding in March that the president’s authority to make changes to the White House does not include demolishing the East Wing and building the ballroom. The administration has appealed the ruling.
The Justice Department acknowledged in court filings in the case that the Executive Residence is overseeing contracts for the project, claiming it was “best-positioned” to do so in part because of its expertise in the use of the White House for official ceremonies.
Experts told The Post that the GSA or the National Park Service is better equipped to handle contracting for large construction projects at the White House, and an internal White House document shows that is the norm.
Major repairs and structural changes to the White House’s East Wing and East Colonnade are the responsibility of the GSA and the Park Service, according to the document, a 2024memorandum of understanding for the maintenance and operations of the White Houseobtained by The Post.
The role of the Executive Residence “does not include maintenance or repair involving structural building elements or major utility systems for those areas, which are handled by GSA or NPS,” according to the memorandum, which expires in 2029.
An Interior Department spokesperson, responding to questions sent to the Park Service, said in a statement that the Executive Residence is “best positioned to coordinate with all agencies that have equities regarding planning for and implementation of the project.” The GSA referred questions to the White House.
On Sept. 22, Clark signed the White House contract for the East Wing, which included a range of work the company would provide over a five-year period and a nondisclosure agreement.
Joshua Fisher, director of the White House Office of Administration, indicated on the contract that the administration did not solicit bids for the East Wing work because “the disclosure of the executive agency’s needs would compromise the national security.”
In recent months, Trump has said rebuilding the East Wing is a national security issue, describing an underground military bunker anda rooftop“drone empire … to protect Washington.”
The Trump administration continued to issue work orders to advance the East Wing project under both the 2024 and 2025 agreements with Clark, records show. Clark’s internal construction cost estimates rose from $200 million in July 2025 to $600 million by March 2026, The Post previously reported.
After signing the East Wing contract, Clark officials notified the White House that the company planned to award no-bid deals to at least 11 subcontractors for demolition, abatement, excavation, fencing and other services, according to copies of correspondence obtained by The Post. Two of those subcontractors are Clark subsidiaries.
On March 4, days after the start of the war with Iran, Trump personally negotiated the price of concrete to be provided by one of Clark’s wholly owned subsidiaries, according to a summary of the terms that notes his involvement. The summary indicates the price, initially more than $47 million, dropped $2.3 million during the negotiation.
The release of a mandatory financial disclosure for 2025 shows that the Trump family’s holdings, particularly the president’s crypto businesses, were stunningly lucrative
President Trump entering the White House on Sunday. His mandatory financial disclosure report for 2025 pulled back the curtain on his secretive business operations.Credit…Eric Lee for The New York Times
Ben Protess and Eric Lipton cover the Trump Organization. Andrea Fuller is a reporter specializing in data analysis. David Yaffe-Bellany covers cryptocurrencies.
June 30, 2026
President Trump reaped a stunning windfall in his first year back in the White House, including about $1.4 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency businesses, a new filing shows.
All told, the president pulled in at least $2.2 billion, a figure that includes other parts of his vast holdings, such as his real estate assets. That compares to a minimum of $622 million his enterprises pulled in for all of 2024, before he returned to the presidency.
Trump Pulled In About $1.4 Billion From Crypto Ventures, Financial Disclosure Shows – The New York Times
One of his biggest hauls in 2025 came when an investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates bought nearly half of the Trump family’s main crypto company, World Liberty Financial, a transaction that blurred the line between foreign policy and private enterprise.
Mr. Trump also collected hundreds of millions of dollars from sales of his $TRUMP memecoin and World Liberty’s sale of its own digital tokens.
The results, detailed in Mr. Trump’s mandatory financial disclosure report for 2025 and released on Tuesday, pulled back the curtain on the president’s business operations. His crypto ventures, the report shows, are now some of his most lucrative enterprises, a remarkable turnabout for a man who once slammed crypto as a haven for drug dealers and scammers.
The president’s finances, which had been something of a mystery, highlight a conflict in his crypto business: Mr. Trump is a major crypto industry operator and its top policymaker.
It is hardly the only issue to arise from having a businessman serve as president. The president’s family business, the Trump Organization, has also capitalized on Mr. Trump’s popularity in certain parts of the world, licensing the Trump name to properties in countries that are crucial to U.S. foreign policy interests, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Those two deals alone generated more than $14 million for Mr. Trump last year, the filing shows.
Mr. Trump brushed aside a question over concerns about a conflict of interest while speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning after the disclosure was released.
“I purposely, I never speak to any of the people that run the money,” Mr. Trump said.
“You know why I’m profiting? Because the stock market is going up,” he added.
However, The New York Times recently reported that he meets with his financial advisers once a year for an update on this accounts. Regardless, the stock market’s movements do not explain the bulk of his financial haul in 2025, including the U.A.E. investment in World Liberty Financial or the licensing deals.
Although the report released on Tuesday offered revenue figures for Mr. Trump’s crypto and real estate ventures, it did not reveal whether all of the businesses turned a profit or a loss, which is consistent with his previous filings.
The report also offers little clarity on the president’s net worth, much of which is tied to estimated property values and the fluctuating paper worth of crypto assets and his stock portfolio. For his largest assets, including cryptocurrency and real estate, Mr. Trump reported a minimum valuation of $50 million with no upper limit.
The president’s shares in his own publicly traded social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, are worth about $875 million, according to other public filings, representing one of the single greatest sources of the president’s net worth. (Those shares have plummeted over the last year, eroding some of his net worth.)
But it was Mr. Trump’s crypto business that proved to be a top revenue stream.
Once an outspoken skeptic of crypto, Mr. Trump embraced the industry on the campaign trail in 2024 and started a series of ventures that have reaped enormous sums.
With his three sons, he helped create World Liberty, a crypto firm that sells a digital currency called $WLFI.
Last year, World Liberty marketed its coin to investors around the world, with 75 percent of each sale allocated to a Trump business entity, after the deduction of certain expenses, guaranteeing the president would make money even if the value of the token declined. The president received about $500 million from those sales last year, according to the filing, compared with $57 million in 2024.
World Liberty enriched the Trump family in other ways, as well.
In January 2025, days before Mr. Trump’s inauguration, an investment firm tied to the government of the U.A.E. bought a 49 percent stake in World Liberty, raising a slew of ethical concerns. Soon the Emiratis struck a deal with the Trump administration — over the objections of some national security officials — for the export of valuable computer chips that power artificial intelligence.
The filing released Tuesday did not explicitly refer to the deal, but it mentioned unnamed investments that generated more than $200 million for Mr. Trump.
The other major source of Mr. Trump’s crypto wealth was his memecoin, a novelty currency known as $TRUMP that he started selling days before his inauguration. He earned more than $600 million from sales of the coin, according to the filing.
The coin’s price shot up briefly, before plummeting, with its price recently hovering around $1.67, a roughly 80 percent drop from a year ago.
The Trump family also continued to pull in chunks of money from real estate branding deals, the new report showed, including some in the Middle East that generated a minimum of $35 million in revenue last year. Deals in Vietnam and Romania, as well as older ones in India, Turkey and Indonesia, combined to bring in at least another $20 million.
And the president’s major real estate holdings in the United States, like Trump National Golf Club near Miami, pulled in $122 million in revenue, while his Mar-a-Lago club generated a total of $77 million for him, the report said.
Now that Mr. Trump is flush with cash, and now that he has eliminated some of his long-running legal problems, he has reduced the liabilities on his balance sheet, including after an appeals court overturned a nearly half-billion-dollar legal judgment stemming from a civil fraud case in New York.
The disclosure report shows that Mr. Trump still owes more than $50 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of sexually abusing and defaming her. The Supreme Court on Monday declined the president’s request to review one of the judgments Ms. Carroll secured against him.
The financial disclosure captured several other legal wins for Mr. Trump, including payouts he collected from media and technology giants like ABC News, Paramount and Meta. ABC settled a defamation lawsuit, while Paramount agreed to pay him over the editing of an interview on the CBS News program “60 Minutes.” Meta settled a lawsuit he filed over the suspension of his Facebook and Instagram accounts after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
The disclosure also captured gains in Mr. Trump’s investments in the financial markets. While these numbers appear in wide ranges, making it difficult to decipher meaningful trends or specific amounts, they suggest that Mr. Trump continues to get richer as president.
At the end of last year, the disclosure shows, he held investment assets of at least $857 million, compared with a minimum reported value of $236 million the year prior.
WASHINGTON—Claiming there were strings of explosive devices planted throughout the National Mall, President Donald Trump reportedly attempt to cover up low attendance at the Great American State Fair this week by calling in a bomb threat. “There’s a series of explosives in unmarked duffel bags all across the fairgrounds, which are beautiful by the way, so you’d better evacuate everyone as fast as you can, don’t even bother stopping to count how many people there are,” Trump said from his Oval Office phone, pinching his nose in an effort to disguise his voice. “You’ll regret it big time if all the attendees, however many there may possibly be, don’t flee back to their homes this instant. This incredibly successful and beloved event is officially over!” According to sources, the president concluded the warning by casually stating his name was Sleepy Joe Biden and then hanging up the receiver.
