Current:Home > InvestJudge blocks Trump lawyers from arguing about columnist’s rape claim at upcoming defamation trial-InfoLens
Judge blocks Trump lawyers from arguing about columnist’s rape claim at upcoming defamation trial
View Date:2025-01-11 03:12:19
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! (7651)
Related
- Mattel says it ‘deeply’ regrets misprint on ‘Wicked’ dolls packaging that links to porn site
- After being diagnosed with MS, he started running marathons. It's helping reverse the disease's progression.
- Florida authorities warn of shark dangers along Gulf Coast beaches after 3 people are attacked
- Max Verstappen wins 3rd straight Canadian Grand Prix for 60th Formula 1 victory
- Kentucky woman seeking abortion files lawsuit over state bans
- Rodeo bull hops fence at Oregon arena, injures 3 before being captured
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Peak Performance
- Celtics beat Mavericks 105-98, take 2-0 lead in NBA Finals as series heads to Dallas
- Inter Miami's MLS playoff failure sets stage for Messi's last act, Alexi Lalas says
- A last supper on death row: Should America give murderers an extravagant final meal?
Ranking
- Disney Store's Black Friday Sale Just Started: Save an Extra 20% When You Shop Early
- Attacks in Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions leave 28 dead, Moscow-backed officials say
- Apple expected to enter AI race with ambitions to overtake the early leaders
- Netflix to fight woman's claim of being inspiration behind Baby Reindeer stalker character
- Dwayne Johnson Admits to Peeing in Bottles on Set After Behavior Controversy
- Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater Enjoy Date Night at Stanley Cup Final
- Michael Landon stubbornly failed to prioritize his health before cancer, daughter says
- A woman claims to be a Pennsylvania girl missing since 1985. Fingerprints prove otherwise, police say.
Recommendation
-
Patrick Mahomes Breaks Silence on Frustrating Robbery Amid Ongoing Investigation
-
Shooting leaves 3 dead and 2 injured in South Dakota
-
Roger Daltrey says live music is 'the only thing that hasn’t been stolen by the internet'
-
New Haven dedicates immigrant monument in square where Christopher Columbus statue was removed
-
Pistons' Tim Hardaway Jr. leaves in wheelchair after banging head on court
-
The Taliban banned Afghan girls from school 1,000 days ago, but some brave young women refuse to accept it.
-
Movie Review: Glen Powell gives big leading man energy in ‘Hit Man’
-
Overnight fire damages or destroys about 15 boats at a Nevada marina