A Manhattan judge says Donald Trump’s bid to pause E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case is just another delay tactic — and that the former president’s “frivolous” appeal isn’t likely to succeed.
“Mr. Trump’s motion for a stay pending appeal is denied,” Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan said in a Friday decision. “This Court certifies that the appeal itself is frivolous.”
The ruling is yet another legal blow to the 45th president doled out by Kaplan, who last week also tossed out Trump’s defamation counter-claims against the “Ask E. Jean” advice columnist.
An embattled Trump, 77, asked the judge to put Carroll’s defamation case against him on hold while he appealed Kaplan’s June ruling denying Trump’s attempt to have her 2019 case thrown out altogether.
Kaplan argued Trump has repeatedly sought to delay the four-year-old case, calling the last request for a stay just another crack at it.
“This case was largely stalled for years due in large part to Mr. Trump’s repeated efforts to delay, which are chronicled in the Court’s prior decisions,” Kaplan wrote. “Mr. Trump’s latest motion to stay — his fourth such request — is yet another such attempt to delay unduly the resolution of this matter.”
In her suit, Carroll, 79, claimed Trump defamed her and damaged her journalistic reputation when he denied ever meeting her and called her sexual assault claims a “hoax.”
In a different case, a jury in May found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room in the 1990s and awarded her a $5 million verdict. Trump also lost a request for a new trial in that case.
Separately, Trump faces four criminal cases in New York, Florida, Washington, DC, and Georgia for various alleged crimes.
This week, Trump, Rudy Giuliani and 17 others were indicted for their alleged involvement in attempting to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election result.
Trump also faces a New York “hush money” case for allegedly having former porn star Stormy Daniels paid off to keep her quiet about her claims she had an affair with him while he was married to current wife Melania Trump.
In Florida, Trump faces allegations of hoarding classified national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago home — despite having left office — and then lying about it.
He also faces allegations in DC for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“While we disagree with the District Court’s decision, we fully anticipated it,” Trump lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement Friday. “We will promptly move before the Second Circuit for a stay to preserve our client’s entitlement to presidential immunity.”
The entire tone of the article sounds like a fait accompli. But in a democratic city that loathes Trump for some unknown reason what else should we expect. The entire case needs to be dismissed.