On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan postponed E. Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against former President Trump over recent exposures to COVID-19.
Judge Kaplan, who oversees the trial, announced in the courtroom he would postpone the trial for at least one day, according to The Hill.
“We will take the day off,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan said one of the jurors reported feeling ill on his way into court, and he was sent home.
Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, said that she also was feeling ill on Monday and had recently been exposed to COVID-19 at a dinner with her parents.
The judge said Habba and fellow Trump attorney Michael Madaio had both taken COVID-19 tests earlier in the morning and were negative.
Trump was briefly in the courtroom with Habba on Monday.
Trump has fought against the author’s claims the former President raped her in a dressing room in the 1990s.
In August, Judge Kaplan dismissed former President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against Carroll, ruling her statement made on a cable network was substantially true and “[t]here would have been no different effect on the mind of an average listener.” (RELATED: Judge Dismisses Trump’s Counterclaim Against E. Jean Carroll)
“The difference between Ms. Carroll’s allegedly defamatory statements — that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as defined in the New York Penal Law — and the ‘truth’ — that Mr. Trump forcibly digitally penetrated Ms. Carroll — is minimal. Both are felonious sex crimes,” Kaplan ruled.
Kaplan, a Clinton appointee, separately rejected Trump’s defense that he has “absolute presidential immunity” in the case.
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Until March 2026
It is my understanding that alleged “crimes” like this are covered by a special Congressional fund that deals with accusations like this for ALL of congress!