Donald Trump has sought a postponement of the scheduled trial on April 25 in the defamation case brought against him by journalist E. Jean Carroll.
What Happened: Trump’s lawyer, in a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan on Tuesday, requested a four-week “cooling off” period to at least May 23 amid a recent “deluge of prejudicial media coverage” of criminal charges against him, reported Reuters.
The lawyer said the extension was necessary to guarantee the ex-president’s right to a fair trial in Carroll’s case.
Trump’s lawyers, Joe Tacopina and Alina Habba, said in a letter, “Many, if not most, prospective jurors will have the criminal allegations top of mind when judging President Trump’s defense against Ms. Carroll’s allegations.”
Prospective jurors “will have the breathless coverage of President Trump’s alleged extra-marital affair with Stormy Daniels still ringing in their ears if [the] trial goes forward as scheduled,” the letter added.
Why It Matters: Carroll has accused Trump of defaming her after the former U.S. president, in a post on Truth Social last year, denied that he had raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in either late 1995 or early 1996.
Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, opposing Trump’s request, said it was “just another delay tactic” to keep jurors from hearing her client’s case.
“Trump is exceptionally ill-suited to complain about fairness when he has instigated (and sought to benefit from) so much of the very coverage about which he now complains,” Kaplan wrote.
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