A federal choose in New York on Monday denied former President Donald Trump’s bid for a mistrial in author E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit alleging that Trump raped her in a Manhattan division retailer within the Nineteen Nineties.
In an 18-page submitting hours forward of his second day of cross-examining Carroll, Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina accused U.S. District Decide Lewis Kaplan, who’s overseeing the case, of constructing “pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings” in opposition to his consumer.
Barring a mistrial ruling, Tacopina requested that Kaplan “appropriate the document for every occasion by which the Courtroom has mischaracterized the info of this case to the jury” and permit Trump’s counsel to “have larger latitude” to cross-examine Carroll.
Tacopina wrote that Kaplan’s “one-sided rulings” reveal “a deeper leaning in direction of one social gathering over one other,” together with feedback that specific “favoritism.”
“Right here, regardless of the very fact trial testimony has been underway for less than two days, the proceedings are already replete with quite a few examples of Defendant’s unfair therapy by the Courtroom, most of which have been witnessed by the Jury,” the letter mentioned.
Kaplan denied the movement Monday morning shortly earlier than the jury was introduced in to listen to Carroll’s testimony, a court docket official confirmed.
Attorneys for Carroll didn’t instantly reply to NBC Information’ request for remark.
Carroll took the witness stand for her lawsuit in opposition to Trump final week, telling jurors, “I’m right here as a result of Trump raped me.” Carroll alleges Trump assaulted her in 1995 or 1996 at a Bergdorf Goodman division retailer on Fifth Avenue in New York Metropolis, when the “playful banter” she’d been engaged in with Trump, then a businessman, took a “darkish flip.” She alleges in her lawsuit that Trump “seized” her, “pressured her up in opposition to a dressing room wall, pinned her in place together with his shoulder, and raped her.”
In her testimony on the civil trial in federal court docket in decrease Manhattan final week, Carroll mentioned Trump “lied and shattered my repute, and I’m making an attempt to get my life again” after she got here ahead together with her allegations in 2019.
Trump has repeatedly denied Carroll’s allegations, together with in current posts on his social media platform, Fact Social, in the course of the trial.
In his request for a mistrial, Tacopina took situation with Kaplan’s ruling that restricted him from asking Carroll about why she didn’t search safety digital camera footage from Bergdorf Goodman.
“[P]roof that Plaintiff by no means tried to find out if such footage of the events existed constitutes circumstantial proof that her accusation is fake,” Tacopina wrote.
Tacopina’s request for a mistrial comes after Carroll sparred with him throughout cross-examination final week. Tacopina requested why she didn’t “scream for assist” in the course of the alleged assault.
“I’m not a screamer. I used to be in a panic, combating,” Carroll replied, changing into visibly emotional. “You may’t beat up on me for not screaming.”
Carroll’s lawsuit in opposition to Trump is amongst a number of authorized battles the previous president faces. Trump was arraigned final month on 34 counts of falsifying enterprise data by Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg for his position in hush cash funds shortly earlier than the 2016 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not responsible to the fees.
