NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump faces a second legal front, in this case over a defamation case related to the alleged rape of writer E. Jean Carroll, which will begin Tuesday with jury selection.
Trump unlikely to attend trial: Judge Lewis A. Kaplan left it up to Trump and Carroll to decide whether or not to attend, and while plaintiff’s attorneys announced she intended to attend all sessions, those of the former president wrote to Kaplan last week announcing that they “do not wish to appear in court”.
They alleged the “logistical and financial burdens” that Trump’s move will cause the city, counting only the deployment of the Secret Service which would require his presence many hours before each intervention.
But, in addition, Trump announced an electoral act next Thursday afternoon in New Hampshire, as part of the pre-campaign for the 2024 presidential elections, in which the former president leaves as a clear favorite among the candidates. republicans.
The New York Times newspaper indicates that the trial in Manhattan Federal District Court will not be very long, and could last between one and two weeks.
For now, Judge Kaplan has ruled that the jury selected tomorrow will remain anonymous, even to the parties’ attorneys, given the possibility that they may face some form of harassment or attack from Trump supporters.
Rogelio Mora-Tagle was in court and explained what former President Donald Trump told the judge.
THE VIEW IS NOT FOR RAPE, BUT FOR DEFAMATION
The trial, which opens 20 days after Trump’s first legal front – for improperly paying porn actress Stormy Daniels to silence an extramarital sexual relationship – does not refer to the accusation of rape in the cabins of fitting in a New York department store. 1990s, a charge that will be the subject of separate proceedings.
In this case, the defamation charge Carroll, 79, brings against Trump, 76, is on trial for attacks he made against her when he publicly spoke out about those events in 2019.
At that time, when he was still president, he said the complaint was “a joke and a lie” and that what she was looking for was free celebrity to promote a book.
The fact that rape and defamation are not tried in the same trial is because an alleged rape committed 25 years ago was already barred in 2019, but New York State opened a window statutory one year in 2022 to report prescribed sex crimes.
Trump’s legal team has tried to delay the opening of the new case by making several requests to Judge Kaplan, the latest of which alleges that a period of “calm” is needed to be able to objectively choose the jury, but the judge stopped all these attempts. .