Former President Donald Trump must sit for a deposition in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by author E. Jean Carroll over comments he made about her while denying her claims he raped her in a store in the mid-1990s, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
"Given his conduct so far in this case, Mr. Trump's position regarding the burdens of discovery is inexcusable," U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote in his ruling that rejects a request from the former president's attorneys to delay the deposition, reports The Washington Examiner. "As this court previously has observed, Mr. Trump has litigated this case since it began in 2019 with the effect and probably the purpose of delaying it."
Kaplan said in the ruling Trump has tried several times to delay the collection for the ruling, and said he "should not be permitted to run the clock out" on Carroll, who made the claims of rape in a book she released in 2019.
Carroll claims she encountered Trump at the Bergdorf Goodman store in New York City in either 1995 or 1996, and that he had pushed her against a changing room door before sexually assaulting her.
Trump issued a Save America PAC statement Wednesday calling the case "a complete con job," denouncing "our legal system in this country, but especially in New York state" a "broken disgrace."
"You have to fight for years, and spend a fortune, in order to get your reputation back from liars, cheaters, and hacks," Trump wrote in his statement. "This decision is from the Judge who was just overturned on my same case. I don't know this woman, have no idea who she is, other than it seems she got a picture of me many years ago, with her husband, shaking my hand on a reception line at a celebrity charity event.
"She completely made up a story that I met her at the doors of this crowded New York City department store and, within minutes, 'swooned' her. It is a hoax and a lie, just like all the other hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years.
"And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will. This woman is not my type! She has no idea what day, what week, what month, what year, or what decade this so-called 'event' supposedly took place. The reason she doesn't know is because it never happened, and she doesn't want to get caught up with details or facts that can be proven wrong."
Trump attorney Alina Habba said, "We look forward to establishing on the record that this case is, and always has been, entirely without merit."
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Sept. 27 voted 2-1 to seek input from an appeals court in Washington about whether Trump was protected, after determining that while his office could give him immunity as a government employee, it could not determine if the statements fell within his job description.
Carroll also plans to sue Trump under New York's New Adult Survivors Act, which lets people over the age of 18 sue people they claim sexually assaulted them.
There is no statute of limitations under the new law, and Carroll's attorney wrote in August to a New York Judge that the team plans to file its lawsuit on Nov. 24, the date when all residents can start their legal proceedings.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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