A federal court ordered on Wednesday that former President Donald Trump must give a deposition in a defamation case filed against him by author E. Jean Carroll for statements he made about her while disputing her claims he raped her in a shop in the mid-1990s.
Given his actions so far in this matter, Mr. Trump’s attitude regarding the demands of discovery is unconscionable, said U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in an order denying the former president’s attorneys’ request to postpone the deposition, according to The Washington Examiner. As this court has noted, Mr. Trump has litigated this lawsuit since its inception in 2019. Mr. Trump’s intent and the likely consequence is prolonging its resolution.
Kaplan stated in the ruling that Trump has repeatedly attempted to postpone the judgment collection and that he “should not be allowed to run out the clock” on Carroll, who published a book in 2019 including allegations of rape.
Carroll alleges she met Trump in 1995 or 1996 at the Bergdorf Goodman shop in New York City and that he shoved her against the changing room door before sexually assaulting her.
Trump’s Save America PAC released a statement on Wednesday in which he referred to the case as a total scam job and denounced our judicial system in this nation, but especially in New York, as a broken embarrassment.
Trump stated You must battle for years and spend a lot to earn your reputation back from liars, cheats, and hackers. This judgment was rendered by the judge whose ruling on my case was just reversed. He does not know this woman and has no idea who she is other than that she appears to have taken a picture of him shaking hands with her husband at a famous charity event many years ago. She entirely fabricated the narrative that he met her at the entrance of a packed New York City department store and “swooned” her within minutes. It is a fake, a falsehood, similar to all the previous pranks pulled on him over the past seven years.
Even if he is not permitted to say it, he will. “This woman is not my type!” She is unaware of the date, week, month, year, and decade in which this alleged ‘incident’ occurred. She does not know since it never occurred and does not wish to become entangled in specifics or facts that may be disproven.
Alina Habba, a Trump attorney, stated, we look forward to demonstrating on the record that this complaint has always been completely meritless.
On September 27, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to seek input from a Washington appeals court on Trump’s immunity. Despite his office granting him immunity as a government employee, the office could not determine the scope of his immunity.
Carroll also intends to sue Trump under New York’s New Adult Survivors Act, which allows those over 18 to sue alleged sexual abusers.
Under the new rule, there is no statute of limitations. Carroll’s attorney informed a New York judge in August that the team intends to bring its complaint on November 24, when all citizens can initiate legal procedures.