Judge rejects Trump’s ‘frivolous’ fourth attempt to block E Jean Carroll case

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A federal judge has once again dismissed Donald Trump’s attempts to stall litigation from writer E Jean Carroll, who was awarded a $5m jury verdict earlier this year finding the former president liable for sexual abuse and defamation after speaking publicly about it.

His fourth attempt, along with his previous attempts, have not provided a “single reason” to show any likelihood that he will succeed on appeal, according to US District Judge Lewis Kaplan.

The judge noted that Ms Carroll’s separate defamation case has been stalled for months largely because of Mr Trump’s ongoing attempts to delay, a legal strategy his team has pushed through several civil and criminal cases against him as he continues to seek the 2024 Republican nomination for president.

A 17-page decision from the judge on 18 August “certifies that the appeal itself is frivolous,” according to the order.

“Mr Trump’s latest motion to stay – his fourth such request – is yet another such attempt to delay unduly the resolution of this matter,” according to the order.

Ms Carroll’s lawsuit drew extensive litigation from Mr Trump, who has argued immunity, while Ms Carroll is seeking to double the amount of damages from her prior case.

She has argued that Mr Trump’s statements accusing her of lying – claims he made in 2019 while president – have damaged her reputation and her career. That parallel case has been stalled by Mr Trump’s ongoing attempts to delay, citing presidential immunity from such claims.

Judge Kaplan has scheduled a trial for Ms Carroll’s remaining defamation case for 15 January 2024.

She was awarded a $2m judgment for Mr Trump’s misconduct, as well as $3m for defamation, after a federal jury in New York found that Ms Carroll had proved that the former president sexually abused her in a department store in the 1990s.

Mr Trump has tried to countersue, arguing that, after the jury’s decision, Ms Carroll should not have been allowed to say that the former president had raped her. That claim was dismissed.

Mr Trump was not able to prove that Ms Carroll’s statements on CNN the day after a civil trial jury found that he had sexually abused Ms Carroll and subsequently defamed her were false or “not at least substantially true,” according to the judge’s order earlier this month.

While jurors found Mr Trump liable for sexual abuse, jurors did not state that Mr Trump had raped her under New York state law, to which Ms Carroll told the network, “Oh, yes he did”.

The verdict “establishes, as against Mr Trump, the fact that Mr Trump ‘raped her’, albeit digitally rather than with his penis,” according to Judge Kaplan’s ruling earlier this month. “Thus, it establishes against him the substantial truth of Ms Carroll’s ‘rape’ accusations.”

He added: “In consequence, there is no merit to Mr Trump’s argument that the jury’s finding on Penal Law ‘rape’ question established that Ms Carroll’s statements were false even if her statements reasonably could be construed as referring to ‘rape’ in that specialized Penal Law sense, a subject on which this Court now expresses no view.”

Another civil trial adds to the mountains of legal obstacles for Mr Trump as he campaigns for his return to the White House.

He is separately facing a criminal trial in New York on charges of falsifying business records; a federal trial on charges alleging his illegal retention of classified documents he allegedly showed others; two separate criminal cases surrounding his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election; and a trial from a $250m lawsuit from the office of New York attorney general alleging years of fraudulent business practices.