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Former President Donald Trump struck out again in New York on Friday when a federal judge rejected his fourth bid to delay a defamation trial with columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Carroll, who was awarded $5 million in damages by a jury that found Trump likely sexually abused her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s, sued Trump in 2019 for allegedly defaming her by denying her sexual assault allegations and by suggesting that she made up the claims to sell a book. Trump is appealing the verdict.
In a 17-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan denied Trump's motion to delay the defamation trial while an appeals court considers his claims that he is entitled to use presidential immunity as a defense in the lawsuit.
"Mr. Trump has not provided a single reason for the Court to find that there is any likelihood that he will succeed on appeal, let alone a 'strong showing,'" Kaplan wrote.
Kaplan stressed that it was Trump's fourth attempt to stall the trial and said that the former president's decision to litigate the case for more than three years effectively forfeited any claim Trump had to "irreparable harm in the absence of stay."
"This case was largely stalled for years due in large part to Mr. Trump's repeated efforts to delay, which are chronicled in the Court's prior decisions," Kaplan said. "Mr. Trump's latest motion to stay—his fourth such request—is yet another such attempt to delay unduly the resolution of this matter.
"He has not offered any explanation for either delay despite ample opportunity to do so," the judge added. "In other words, any purported harm resulting from his having to stand trial despite a potential claim to immunity would be entirely of his own doing."
Trump attorney Alina Habba told The Messenger that his team "fully anticipated" Kaplan's ruling and that his lawyers would "promptly move before the Second Circuit for a stay to preserve our client's entitlement to presidential immunity." Newsweek reached out to Habba via email for comment.
"The Carroll defamation case [round two] will proceed," former federal prosecutor Michael McAuliffe previously told Newsweek. "It's still going for no other reason than Trump's own inability to stay silent."
Last week, Kaplan dismissed Trump's countersuit against Carroll, disagreeing with Trump's claims that Carroll made false statements in interviews after May's verdict because the jury did not find Trump liable of rape.
Kaplan said given the "anatomical difference" between the alleged falsehood and truth, there was no harm done to Trump's name.
"The difference between Ms. Carroll's allegedly defamatory statements—that Mr. Trump 'raped' her as defined in the New York Penal Law—and the 'truth'—that Mr. Trump digitally penetrated Ms. Carroll—is minimal," Kaplan wrote in an August 7 order. "Both are felonious sex crimes."
The judge also ruled that Trump's deposition from the sexual assault case could be handed over to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's team that is prosecuting Trump in a criminal case related to the hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more