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Donald Trump has lashed out at the judge who oversaw his recent defamation civil trial where the former president was ordered to pay more than $83 million to writer E. Jean Carroll.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump accused Judge Lewis Kaplan of being a "bully" while detailing how he will be appealing the penalty recently handed down to him by a New York jury.
Judge Kaplan ruled last September that Trump had defamed Carroll in 2019 while denying that he sexually assaulted her at a Bergdorf Goodman store in the 1990s. Following a civil trial, Trump was ordered to pay the former Elle columnist a total of $83.3 million in compensatory damages and punitive retributions.
Trump also suggested that he is looking for a new group of lawyers to help him with his appeal.
"I am in the process, along with my team, of interviewing various law firms to represent me in an Appeal of one of the most ridiculous and unfair Witch Hunts our Country has ever seen—The defamation Sham presided over by a Clinton appointed, highly partisan, Trump Hating Judge, Lewis Kaplan, who was, together with certain other Radical Left Democrat Judges, one of the most partisan and out of control activists that I have ever appeared before," Trump wrote.
"He was a 'bully' who demanded two trials, rather than one, denied me Due Process, would not allow me to put forth vital evidence (of which there was much!), and only allowed me to be on the witness stand for minutes, telling my lawyer what to ask, and telling me to only give one word answers, as his wife and friends sat in cordoned off front row seats watching with glee.
"This entire HOAX is a disgrace to our American System of Justice. Any lawyer who takes a TRUMP CASE is either 'CRAZY,' or a TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOT. I will make my decision soon," Trump added.
Trump frequently lashed out at Judge Kaplan before and during the civil defamation trial. The former president was not under a gag order which prevented him from publicly attacking the judge during the proceedings.
Trump attorney Alina Habba recently tried to suggest that there was a conflict of interest between the judge and Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan, no relation, as the pair worked together at a law firm in the early 1990s. In her motion, Habba cited a New York Post article which claimed that Kaplan considered the judge who was elected to the bench in 1994 as a "mentor."
The conflict of interest claim was widely criticized by legal experts as lacking in merit, with Kaplan claiming the allegations were "utterly baseless" in responding court filings.
Habba backed down after Kaplan indicated she would be seeking to file sanctions against her over the "false allegations." Habba told Judge Kaplan that her motion was "simply to inquire" if the allegations which were made by the New York Post were true, and that she was not making the claims herself.
In May 2023, a separate jury ruled against Trump in a sexual battery and defamation suit filed against him by Carroll, and ordered the former president to pay more than $5 million in damages. Trump is also in the process of appealing that decision.
In a recent statement, Trump said it is "absolutely ridiculous" that he has now lost two defamation lawsuits filed against him by Carroll.
"I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party. Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA," Trump said.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more