Judge rejects Trump’s call for mistrial in E Jean Carroll case

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The judge in writer E Jean Carroll’s case against former president Donald Trump denied the former president’s call to declare a mistrial, CNN reported.

Mr Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina had requested a mistrial in the civil battery and defamation trial he faces against writer E Jean Carroll, citing the presiding judge’s “pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings” against him.

Mr Tacopina filed a letter early on Monday morning saying he would alternatively ask Judge Lewis Kaplan to “correct the record for each and every instance in which the Court has mischaracterized the facts of this case to the jury” or ask for greater leeway in cross examining Ms Carroll.

“Here, despite the fact trial testimony has been underway for only two days, the proceedings are already replete with numerous explains of Defendant’s unfair treatment by the Court, most of which has been witnessed by the Jury,” the letter read.

Ms Carroll filed a lawsuit against Mr Trump and accused him of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s. He then subsequently defamed her when he denied he did, saying she wasn’t his type and that she made the allegation to boost sales of her book.

Mr Tacopina raised the fact that the judge restricted Mr Tacopina from asking Ms Carroll additional questions about her efforts to obtain security camera footage from the store, “expressing a corroborative view” that nobody was on the sixth floor of Bergdorf Goodman store at the time of the allged assault. Mr Tacopina also criticised Judge Kaplan calling certain lines of his questioning “argumentative” in front of the jury.

Ms Caroll is set to take the witness stand for a second day of cross examination on Monday. The former Elle advice columnist was cross-examined on Thursday and expressed exasperation when Mr Tacopina asked why she did not scream when Mr Trump allegedly raped her.

“I was in too much of a panic to scream, I was fighting,” she said. When Mr Tacopina continued to broach the topic, she said, “You can’t beat up on me for not screaming.”

“One of the reasons why women don’t come forward is they are asked ‘why didn’t you scream’,” she said. “It keeps women silent.”

-Bevan Hurley contributed reporting