A New York federal judge cited former President Donald Trump’s “repeated public statements” Friday among reasons why a jury will be anonymous when it considers damages stemming from a defamation lawsuit by a writer who says Trump sexually abused her in the 1990s.
Quick Read
- Anonymous Jury for Defamation Case: A New York judge ruled that the jury for an upcoming defamation trial involving Donald Trump will be anonymous due to Trump’s public statements and extensive media coverage.
- Jury Transportation: Jurors will be transported by the U.S. Marshals Service for the trial set in January in Manhattan.
- Reasons for Anonymity: Judge Lewis A. Kaplan cited Trump’s public comments about the plaintiff and the judiciary, along with media attention, as justification for protecting the jury’s identity.
- No Immediate Comment: Trump’s lawyers did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the decision.
- Previous Trial Outcome: In May, a jury awarded $5 million to columnist E. Jean Carroll after finding that Trump sexually abused her in 1996 and defamed her in 2022, though they did not support the claim of rape.
- Upcoming Trial Context: The January trial is based on a 2019 lawsuit by Carroll, claiming Trump attacked her in a Manhattan store in the 1990s and defamed her in his subsequent comments.
- Presidential Immunity Appeal: The progress of Carroll’s lawsuit was delayed due to appeals, including Trump’s claim of absolute presidential immunity, which has not yet been decided by an appeals court.
- No Need to Re-establish Abuse: For the upcoming trial, Carroll’s lawyers won’t need to reprove Trump’s sexual assault, only to argue for damages based on his defamatory remarks.
- Trump’s Additional Remarks: Carroll updated her lawsuit to include comments Trump made on television the day after the May verdict and seeks at least $10 million in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages.
- Recent Fine for Gag Order Violation: Trump was fined $10,000 by a state judge for violating a gag order by speaking against court personnel in a separate civil fraud case.
- Judicial Credibility Dispute: After testifying, Trump was declared not credible by Judge Arthur Engoron, who also warned of possible imprisonment for further contempt.
- Criminal Indictments: Trump faces four criminal indictments, including cases related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, a classified documents case, and the Stormy Daniels payoff case. He has pleaded not guilty in these cases.
The Associated Press has the story:
Judge orders anonymous jury in Trump’s defamation suit trial
Newslooks- NEW YORK (AP)
A New York federal judge cited former President Donald Trump’s “repeated public statements” Friday among reasons why a jury will be anonymous when it considers damages stemming from a defamation lawsuit by a writer who says Trump sexually abused her in the 1990s.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued an order establishing that the jury to be chosen for the January trial in Manhattan will be transported by the U.S. Marshals Service.
“In view of Mr. Trump’s repeated public statements with respect to the plaintiff and court in this case as well as in other cases against him, and the extensive media coverage that this case already has received and that is likely to increase once the trial is imminent or underway, the Court finds that there is strong reason to believe the jury requires the protections” anonymity provides, Kaplan wrote in an order.
Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Another jury that was also anonymous in May awarded $5 million in damages to columnist E. Jean Carroll, 79, after finding that Trump sexually abused her in 1996 in the dressing room of a luxury department store and defamed her with comments he made in the fall of 2022 that disparaged her claims. The jury rejected Carroll’s claim that Trump raped her. Kaplan presided over that trial as well.
The Jan. 15 trial stems from a lawsuit first filed in 2019 in response to comments Trump made after she wrote in a memoir that Trump attacked her after their chance late-day encounter in a midtown Manhattan store near Trump Tower, where Trump resided. The progression of the lawsuit was slowed by appeals. A federal appeals court has yet to rule on Trump’s claim that absolute presidential immunity protects him from the lawsuit.
After the May verdict, Kaplan ruled that Carroll’s lawyers will not have to re-establish to a new jury that Trump sexually attacked Carroll. Instead, they’ll be left to decide what damages, if any, he should face for his remarks.
That lawsuit has been updated by Carroll’s lawyers to include remarks Trump made on a televised town hall a day after the verdict. Carroll seeks at least $10 million in compensatory damages and substantially more in punitive damages.
A week ago, Trump, the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was fined $10,000 by a New York state judge for violating a gag order prohibiting him from attacking court personnel in a civil fraud case.
The state judge, Arthur Engoron, required Trump to sit in a witness box and answer questions. Trump denied he was referring to a senior law clerk when he told reporters outside court that someone “sitting alongside” Engoron was “perhaps even much more partisan than he is.”
After Trump, 77, testified, the judge said: “I find that the witness is not credible.”
Engoron, who had earlier fined Trump $5,000 for violating the same gag order after the judge found that he had targeted his principal law clerk on social media, even suggested the possibility of holding Trump “in contempt of court, and possibly imprisoning him” for further violations.
Trump also faces four criminal indictments. He has pleaded not guilty in two cases accusing him of seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, along with a classified documents case and charges that he helped arrange a payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels to silence her before the 2016 presidential election.
