In the wake of his indictment in Manhattan, Trump’s legal team has asked for a delay in a civil trial involving author E. Jean Carroll, one of more than a dozen women who have accused him of sexual assault.
On Tuesday, Trump’s attorneys Joseph Tacopina and Alina Habba wrote a letter to District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who’s presiding over Carroll’s case, asking to postpone the trial for four weeks while his Manhattan criminal case is all over the news.
“As set forth more fully below, President Trump’s right to a fair trial depends upon a brief ‘cooling off’ period between the trial of this matter and the recent deluge of prejudicial media coverage concerning his unprecedented criminal indictment and arraignment in Manhattan,” they wrote.
They described the media frenzy surrounding his arraignment in early April as a “carnival atmosphere” and that the coverage was “remarkable for its volume and incitement of animus towards President Trump among the venire.”
“Holding the trial of this case a mere three weeks after these historic events will guarantee that 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,” they wrote.
E. Jean Carroll, a writer and former model, filed a lawsuit against the former president for defamation in 2019 after he denied her claims that he sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s and insulted her publicly. While the trial in that civil case has been delayed indefinitely, Carroll filed a second lawsuit last year, in which she accused Trump of battery and defamation. Both Trump and Carroll’s lawyers have requested that the judge combine the two cases, but Kaplan rejected the request.
The trial for the second lawsuit is, as of Wednesday, still set to begin April 25.
Trump’s attorneys are requesting the date be moved to May 23 at the earliest.
Read the full letter below:
