Current:Home > MyJudge blocks Trump lawyers from arguing about columnist’s rape claim at upcoming defamation trial -StockSource
Judge blocks Trump lawyers from arguing about columnist’s rape claim at upcoming defamation trial
View
Date:2025-04-13 12:23:52
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge late Saturday said former President Donald Trump’s lawyers can’t present legal arguments to a jury assessing damages at a defamation trial on a jury’s conclusion last year that he didn’t rape a columnist in the mid-1990s.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan made the determination in an order in advance of a Jan. 16 trial to determine defamation damages against Trump after a jury concluded Trump sexually abused columnist E. Jean Carroll but did not find evidence was sufficient to conclude that he raped her.
Trump, speaking in Iowa on Saturday as the Republican frontrunning presidential candidate in advance of a Jan. 15 primary, criticized the judge as a “radical Democrat” and mocked E. Jean Carroll for not screaming when she was attacked. “It was all made up,” he said.
Carroll, 80, won a $5 million award last May from a jury that concluded Trump sexually abused her in 1996 in a luxury department store dressing room and defamed her in 2022.
Trump did not attend the Manhattan trial where Carroll testified that a chance encounter at a Bergdorf Goodman store across the street from Trump Tower was flirtatious and fun until he slammed her against a wall in a dressing room and attacked her sexually. Trump has vehemently denied it.
In this month’s trial, a jury will consider whether damages should be levied against Trump for remarks he made after last year’s verdict and in 2019 while he was president after Carroll spoke publicly for the first time about her mid-1990s claims in a memoir.
Carroll’s lawyers had asked the judge to issue the order, saying that Trump’s attorneys should not be allowed to confuse jurors this month about last year’s verdict by trying to argue that the jury disbelieved Carroll’s rape claim.
They said the jury’s finding reflected its conclusion that Trump had forcibly and without consent digitally penetrated Carroll’s vagina, which does not constitute rape under New York state law but which constitutes rape in other jurisdictions.
Carroll’s lawyers said the “sting of the defamation was Mr. Trump’s assertions that Ms. Carroll’s charge of sexual abuse was an entirely untruthful fabrication and one made up for improper or even nefarious reasons.”
A lawyer for Trump did not immediately return a message Saturday.
Carroll is seeking $10 million in compensatory damages and substantially more in unspecified punitive damages at the trial. She will testify and Trump is listed as a witness. The trial is expected to last about a week.
Meanwhile, Trump has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in four indictments, two of which accuse him of seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, as well as a classified documents case and charges that he helped arrange a payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels to silence her before the 2016 presidential election.
veryGood! (23)
Related
- Federal Spending Freeze Could Have Widespread Impact on Environment, Emergency Management
- Simu Liu accused a company of cultural appropriation. It sparked an important conversation.
- Is Capital One Financial stock a buy before Oct. 24?
- Detroit Lions agree to four-year, $97 million extension with defensive tackle Alim McNeill
- North Carolina trustees approve Bill Belichick’s deal ahead of introductory news conference
- Yankees ride sluggers and wild pitches to ALCS Game 1 win vs. Guardians: Highlights
- What college should I go to? Applicants avoid entire states because of their politics
- Is Capital One Financial stock a buy before Oct. 24?
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- Members of Congress call on companies to retain DEI programs as court cases grind on
Ranking
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Video captures worker's reaction when former president arrives at McDonald's in Georgia
- Mountain West adds Hawaii as full-time member, bringing conference to NCAA minimum of 8
- SEC, Big Ten considering blockbuster scheduling agreement for college football's new frontier
- New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health
- Mike Tyson will 'embarrass' Jake Paul, says Muhammad Ali's grandson Nico Ali Walsh
- Ozzy Osbourne Makes Rare Public Appearance Amid Parkinson's Battle
- Jinger Duggar Is Pregnant, Expecting Baby No. 3 with Husband Jeremy Vuolo
Recommendation
Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
The Pumpkin Spice Tax: To savor the flavor of fall, you will have to pay
Jinger Duggar Is Pregnant, Expecting Baby No. 3 with Husband Jeremy Vuolo
Members of Congress call on companies to retain DEI programs as court cases grind on
Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
12-year-old boy dies after tree falls on him due to 'gusty winds' in New Jersey backyard
11 smart tips to make your tech life easier
Justin Timberlake Has Best Reaction to Divorce Sign at Concert