US President Donald Trump has asked for more time to pay the $5 million civil judgment awarded to author E Jean Carroll for sexual assault and defamation, with Carroll’s legal team calling the move a move that “appears to be little more than another play for time”.Trump’s lawyers requested a federal court extend the deadline to July 14, saying his new chief lawyer Josh Halpern needed more time to become familiar with the case after former lawyer Justin Smith left to work as a federal judge, the Guardian reported.In 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in 1996 and defaming her after she publicly accused him in 2019, and awarded him $5 million in damages. Trump deposited the money in an escrow account, but is seeking to delay releasing the amount, which now totals about $5.8 million with interest.Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, argued that Trump had ample time to hire new counsel and suggested that the extension request was intended to buy time before facing new legal challenges, including asking the United States Supreme Court to reconsider the decision and hear appeals in a separate $83 million defamation case.The Guardian quoted Kaplan as saying, “We can only assume that the defendant wants to buy time so that he can try to create some new grounds to prevent the plaintiff from paying in connection with his upcoming plea and motion hearing.”Trump has consistently denied Carroll’s allegations, calling the civil decisions politically motivated, and he has vowed to continue fighting the case after the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal.