A federal judge in New York has voiced his frustration with former President Donald Trump’s repeated attempts to delay a defamation lawsuit against him, stating that he won’t halt a January trial to await the outcome of an appeal that he deemed “frivolous.” Judge Lewis A. Kaplan’s ruling comes as he criticized Trump’s legal team for requesting a stay in the 2019 civil claims made by a New York columnist who accuses Trump of rape in a Manhattan department store dressing room in 1996.
Judge Rejects Delay of Trump Defamation Trial, Deems Appeal Frivolous
Kaplan’s ruling suggests that the defamation lawsuit against Trump is likely to proceed on January 15, coinciding with the start of the primary season as Trump seeks to secure the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election. The Iowa Republican caucuses are scheduled for that day.
Despite this legal battle, Trump is also facing four criminal indictments in other jurisdictions, including cases related to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and charges involving a payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels.
In May, a jury awarded E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused Trump of rape, $5 million in damages, finding that she was sexually abused and defamed by Trump, although not raped. Carroll’s lawyers are now pursuing another $10 million in compensatory damages and more in punitive damages for remarks Trump made while he was president and after the jury verdict.
Judge Rejects Delay of Trump Defamation Trial, Deems Appeal Frivolous
While Trump’s legal team sought to delay the trial based on a likelihood of success on appeal, Judge Kaplan rejected their arguments, stating that the appeal was “without merit” and that Trump had “shown no likelihood of success on appeal.” This led Kaplan to declare that Trump’s appeal is frivolous.
Trump’s lawyers have not immediately responded to requests for comment on the ruling.