Former US President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower for the Manhattan federal courthouse for the second defamation trial against him on January 22, 2024 in New York City.
Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty Images
Update: Jury decides Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in defamation damages
Former President Donald Trump’s sexual assault defamation trial in New York was postponed Monday because a juror called in sick.
Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba told Judge Lewis Kaplan that she also had a fever and that at least one of her parents had tested positive for Covid-19. Habba tested negative for the virus Monday morning, as did her co-counsel in the case, Michael Madaio, but Habba said her babysitter also had symptoms.
Kaplan canceled the scheduled day of testimony after Trump and the plaintiff in the civil case, E. Jean Carroll, both arrived at U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The judge made this decision after offering Habba the opportunity to proceed with eight jurors, but she declined.
Still, Trump’s ally, GOP House Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., later tweeted a response to news of the delay, calling it “obvious election interference!”
Trump, 77, and Carroll, 80, were in the courtroom when Kaplan said the trial would be postponed until Tuesday at the earliest. The postponement was later extended from Monday to Wednesday.
Trump stood between Habba and Madaio, neither wearing a mask, as Kaplan agreed to the postponement.
The judge then called in the remaining jurors to explain the delay.
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After the jury was excused, Habba Kaplan said she planned to call Trump as a witness on Wednesday.
“The New Hampshire primary is tomorrow and I ask that his testimony take place on Wednesday,” Habba said.
Trump is the Republican front-runner in this presidential primary and in the overall Republican nominating contest, with only former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley remaining as a serious contender after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race on Sunday.
Carroll’s attorney, Robert Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, declined to postpone the trial beyond Tuesday.
“We would like to finish this process,” said Roberta Kaplan. “I think we should be ready tomorrow, Judge Kaplan.”
The judge replied: “I will not decide now.”
“Circumstances may or may not result in you getting what you asked for,” he added.
E. Jean Carroll (right) leaves Manhattan Federal Court with her attorneys for her civil defamation trial against former U.S. President Donald Trump after it was canceled for today on January 22, 2024 in New York City.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
The trial, which began last week, is solely to determine how much Trump must pay Carroll for defaming her by denying her accusation that he raped her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s.
Trump was president when he first defamed Carroll in 2019.
Another jury from the same court found Trump guilty last year of sexually abusing Carroll in the attack and of defaming her in late 2022, when he again denied her allegations. The jury ordered him to pay her $5 million in that case.
Trump is appealing this ruling.
Judge Kaplan ruled before the current trial began that there was no need to hear this issue before a second jury because the first trial had found that Trump had defamed Carroll and that only the issue of damages would be decided by that panel must.
Carroll’s lawyers are demanding at least $10 million from Trump in this case.
Trump wrote more than 40 posts about Carroll on his TruthSocial website Monday morning.
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2024-01-26 23:34:20
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