Trump to stand trial in New York for rape and defamation in April

This spring, Donald Trump will stand trial in New York City over a lawsuit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll alleging he raped her and then slandered her by saying she lied about the sexual assault, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Manhattan Federal Court Judge Lewis Kaplan has set a trial date for April 25, hours after Trump’s lawyers asked him to reschedule the case to June.

Kaplan said he has yet to decide if the lawsuit will merge Carroll’s two lawsuits against Trump.

Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll

Carroll filed the first lawsuit against Trump, which includes defamation suits, in the Manhattan Supreme Court in 2019 when he called her a liar after she accused him of rape.

The libel suit has stalled after it was taken to federal court when Trump said he couldn’t be sued because he was president. The Justice Department continued to defend this argument after President Biden took office, arguing that it was not trying to protect Trump but federal employees from lawsuits. The case is currently pending before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Hubba unsuccessfully asked Kaplan to stay the federal Manhattan case until a D.C. court ruled.

Carroll filed her second lawsuit – the one that went to trial 11 weeks later – in November after the Adult Survivor Law went into effect in New York. He includes allegations of sexual battery and accuses him of slandering her a second time when he doubled down on his comments calling her a liar when he was no longer president.

Central to both lawsuits are Carroll’s allegations that Trump raped her at Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue between the fall of 1995 and the spring of 1996. Carroll says she still has the dress she wore during the meeting that she never washed. She believes it has traces of Trump’s DNA.

Trump vehemently denied all of Carroll’s allegations. His attorney did not respond to requests for comment.

Donald Trump (far left) and E. Jean Carroll (second from left) together at a party in 1987.

Trump will be represented in court by famed lawyer Joe Tacopin, who defended Meek Mill and Alex Rodriguez. At Tuesday’s hearing, another Trump lawyer, Alina Khabba, confirmed she would continue to pursue the case. Last month, a Florida judge fined Hubba and Trump $1 million for filing a frivolous lawsuit against Hillary Clinton on Trump’s behalf.

In testimony papers that Judge Kaplan unsealed last month, the belligerent Trump denounced Carroll as a “fool.” He repeated his remarks, calling her sexually unwanted.

“When I say that she is not my type, I am saying that she is not the kind of woman that I would ever be attracted to. I have no reason to be attracted to her,” Trump said in his October deposition.

During the same meeting, the ex-president mistook Carroll for his second wife, Marla Maples, when he was shown a photograph.

“Are you saying that Marla is in this photo?” Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan questioned Trump during his testimony.

It’s Marla, yes. This is my wife,” Trump replied.

“No, it’s Carroll,” Khabba interrupted.

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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