Judge denies Trump request to delay E Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit
Eden Villalovas
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U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan denied former President Donald Trump’s motion to postpone a trial in which writer E. Jean Carroll accused him of assault and defamation. The trial is set for April 25, 2023.
Trump’s attorneys filed the motion last week seeking to delay the trial in which Carroll sued Trump. The writer alleged Trump defamed her by calling her a liar when he denied her claim that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Carroll first sued in 2019 and added a charge of battery under the new Adult Survivors Act in November of 2022. The act allows victims to file a case outside the statute of limitations if the sexual assault happened when they were over the age of 18.
TRUMP LEGAL COUNSEL ASKS FOR DELAY IN E JEAN CARROLL DEFAMATION LAWSUIT
Lawyers moved to delay for four weeks, citing the surge in media coverage around Trump’s indictment in connection to hush money payments between the former president and porn star Stormy Daniels.
“Jurors selected to hear Ms. Carroll’s allegations against President Trump will have the breathless coverage of President Trump’s alleged extra-marital affair with Stormy Daniels still ringing in their ears if trial goes forward as scheduled,” Trump attorney Joe Tacopina wrote on April 11 to Kaplan. “To avoid this egregious violation of President Trump’s constitutional rights, the trial should be adjourned for a brief period to allow the media frenzy to recede.”
Kaplan’s ruling highlighted that Trump’s lawyers failed to prove that escalated media circulation around the former president is cause for delay, writing that part of the coverage had been brought about by his own team.
“There has been no shortage of recent news articles focused on Mr. Trump’s own public statements on his social media platform and in press conferences and interviews he has given about his indictment,” Kaplan wrote.
“It does not sit well for Mr. Trump to promote pretrial publicity and then to claim that coverage that he promoted was prejudicial to him and should be taken into account as supporting a further delay,” he added.
Kaplan continued by acknowledging a shortage of impartial jurors will not be a factor because a preliminary examination to deem jurors suitable for service will commence per law.
“And it is important to recognize that the voir dire of prospective jurors in this case, whenever it occurs, quite likely will include inquiry into prospective jurors’ awareness, if any, of Mr. Trump’s various legal troubles — past, present and perhaps future — and jurors’ ability and willingness to render a fair and impartial verdict in this case, regardless of any prior knowledge or attitudes,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan’s ruling came after Trump attorney Alina Habba wrote a letter to Kaplan urging a trial delay and raising concerns about Carroll’s motive and credibility after discovering Reid Hoffman, the billionaire founder of LinkedIn, covered some of Carroll’s legal fees.
“The eleventh-hour disclosure that Plaintiff’s legal fees are being subsidized by American Future Republic and Reid Hoffman is troubling and raises significant questions that require further investigation,” Habba wrote in her letter to Kaplan.
Kaplan rejected the move to push back the trial but ruled last week that Trump’s lawyers could depose Carroll by this Wednesday for no longer than 60 minutes.
“The question whether and when plaintiff [Carroll] or her counsel have obtained financial support in this action has nothing directly to do with the ultimate merits of the case,” Kaplan wrote in his order.
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Kaplan’s Monday statement concluded by urging the trial to move forward as planned.
“It now has been more than three years since Ms. Carroll filed her first lawsuit against Mr. Trump alleging that he raped her in the mid 1990s,” he said. “She now is over 79 years of age and is entitled to her day in court just as both parties are entitled to a fair trial.”