Judge Rejects Trump’s Plea for ‘Cooling Off’ Period in E. Jean Carroll Rape Trial
OVERRULED
Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Despite desperate pleas for delay by lawyers representing Donald Trump, it looks like author E. Jean Carroll’s trial stemming from sexual assault allegations will move forward according to plan. On Monday, Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected the argument that Trump needed a “cooling off” period before jury selection because of the “deluge” of media coverage surrounding his indictment on charges that he paid hush-money to adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to The Washington Post. It seems the judge was convinced by Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, who claimed that “it is somewhat perverse for Trump to seek a continuance in these proceedings based on the recent indictment when so much of the publicity he complains about has been driven by his own incendiary statements.” The civil trial will begin on April 25; it stems from a lawsuit Carroll filed last year under a new law in New York that allows sexual assault victims to sue over cases that would normally have passed the statue of limitation. She is seeking damages over the alleged sexual assault in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s.