NEW YORK (Washington Insider Magazine) – An attorney for a woman who claimed former President Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s and subsequently sued him for defamation said Tuesday that she will not attempt to depose Trump before trial as it would cause undue delay, but that a DNA specimen would still be sought.
During a preliminary hearing in Manhattan federal court, attorney Roberta Kaplan revealed the information before announcing the decision to the media outside the courtroom while her client, E. Jean Carroll, stood by her side.
According to ABC NEWS, Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, stated outside the courtroom that she had not known that Carroll’s attorneys did not want to have a deposition, which is a procedure in which attorneys in civil cases examine key witnesses under oath before the trial.
The DNA sample was sought after the complaint was initially filed in state court, according to Kaplan, and the request still remains after the lawsuit was transferred to federal court.
She said she’d be happy waiting until Trump’s trial, which she believes might happen in as soon as 6 months if certain immediate legal hurdles are overcome.
Outside of court, Carroll told media that she was excited about the trial on behalf of women who have also been groped and grabbed, abused, and raped by powerful men and have also been silenced.
Carroll claimed in a book published in June 2019 that Trump assaulted her at a posh Manhattan store in the mid-1990s.
In a response from his White House media office, remarks in an Oval Office interview, and comments to the reporters as he took a helicopter for Camp David, Trump denied the charges and questioned Carroll’s character and intentions.
The 2nd United States Appeals Court is likely to rule on Trump’s demand that the US be added to the suit as a defendant. Trump cannot be found personally accountable for his “crude and insulting” statements about Carroll, according to the US Department Of justice, since they were made while he was fulfilling his responsibilities as president.
Last October, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who ruled over Tuesday’s session, decided that Trump could not rely on a clause that protects federal workers from being sued personally for what they do while on the job.
He also turned down Trump’s attorneys’ request to postpone the lawsuit’s development, including depositions, until the 2nd Appeals court rules on whether Trump may be removed as a defendant.
On Tuesday, the court appeared to have little tolerance for Trump’s lawyers’ arguments that Trump should really be able to file a lawsuit against Carroll under a provision that allows defendants to dispute defamation charges that make false allegations.
