Appeals Court denies Trump’s effort to delay E. Jean Carroll civil trial

In a brief court order issued late last week, a three-member panel of judges for the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, denied Trump’s motion without elaborating.

Trump asked the appeals court to delay the trial after he lost an earlier attempt to use presidential immunity as a defense to the defamation allegations. He said he needed additional time to consider his options, including potentially seeking review by the US Supreme Court. He could still do that, but he would need to move quickly since the defamation trial is set to begin on January 16.

A spokeswoman for Trump could not immediately be reached.

Last month, the Second Circuit ruled that Trump could not use presidential immunity to defend against the defamation allegation brought by E. Jean Carroll because he waited too long to say he wanted to use it, affirming a decision by the trial court judge.

Carroll sued Trump twice, initially for defamation in 2019 when Trump, as president, denied her allegation that he raped her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. She filed a second lawsuit in 2022 under the Adult Survivors Act, which reopened the window to bring civil sexual assault lawsuits, for the assault and for statements he made that year, well after he left office. The trial on the 2019 lawsuit has been held up in legal challenges.

Last year, a jury found Trump sexually assaulted Carroll and defamed her in his 2022 statements. That jury awarded Carroll $5 million. Trump is appealing the verdict.

At the trial next month, the jury will be asked to decide how much in damages Trump must pay Carroll for his 2019 statements.

Trump didn’t attend the first trial.

Also, Trump’s attorneys moved to block the jury in the second trial from seeing the video of Trump’s deposition that was played at the first trial. In the video, Trump mistakes Carroll in a photograph for his second wife, Marla Maples, calls Carroll a “whack job,” and says “historically” celebrities could grab women: “If you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately.” His attorneys say Trump is listed as a witness so his deposition shouldn’t be played.

Carroll’s lawyers oppose it, writing to the judge, “We have heard this song before.” Trump was also listed as a potential witness in the first trial, but didn’t testify. They said they can still use the video in their case. The judge has not ruled in that dispute.

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