As a civil trial accusing the former US president of civil battery and defamation continues, Donald Trump has demanded a mistrial - something the judge overseeing the case has denied.
The businessman argued that Judge Lewis Kaplan had made "pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings" against him. A letter filed overnight on Monday, May 1, reportedly saw Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, saying he would ask Kaplan to "correct the record for each and every instance in which the Court has mischaracterised the facts of this case to the jury", or provide him greater leeway in cross examining the claimant.
Former columnist E Jean Carroll, 79, has accused Trump, 76, of defamation as well as sexually assaulting and raping her in a department store dressing room in 1996, something he denies. She said the attack happened on the sixth floor of Bergdorf Goodman in New York City.
Ms Carroll said the billionaire had asked her to help choose lingerie for a girlfriend and the pair had joked about before she was allegedly accosted by Trump in a changing room.
Her lawyer, Shawn Crowley, described the former president using arm to hold Ms Carroll against a wall, and the other to molest her before raping her.
She said she wrote about her claims and experience, but said Trump "said it didn't happen".
She first took the witness stand on Wednesday, April 26, telling jurors: "I'm here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn't happen.
"He lied and shattered my reputation, and I'm here to get my life back."
In the letter, Trump's lawyer Tacopina, reportedly said: "Here, despite the fact trial testimony has been underway for only two days, the proceedings are already replete with numerous examples of the defendant's unfair treatment by the court, most of which has been witnessed by the jury."
The letter was sent ahead of court resuming on Monday, May 1, when Ms Carroll is expected to take the stand for a second day of cross-examination by Trump's legal team.
Among issues raised by Tacopina were the judge's ruling to restrict Tacopina from asking Ms Carroll additional questions about efforts she made to obtain security camera footage from the store, "expressing a corrobative view" that there was no one on the sixth floor of the department store at the time of the alleged assault, and calling certain lines of the defence attorney's questioning "argumentative" in front of the jury.
It comes following a series of tense exchanges in court on Thursday, April 27, between Tacopina and Ms Carroll, with Tacopina claiming the judge shut down his lines of questioning. Being asked about why she did not scream or cry out for help, Ms Carroll shot back at Trump's legal team.
"I'm not a screamer," she said.
"I was in a panic, fighting. You can't beat up on me for not screaming.
"Pepole always ask, 'Why didn't you scream?' Some women scream; some do not," she said.
"He raped me, whether I screamed or not," she continued, crying on the stand but speaking with power. "If I was trying to make a lie I would say I was screaming my head off, but I did not scream. I did not scream."
Trump, who landed in Scotland on Monday, May 1, has insisted Ms Carroll was motivated by political reasons, calling the case against him a "Witch Hunt" and "scam" on his Truth Social platform.
He's also claimed Ms Carroll was motivated by a desire to sell copies of her 2019 memoir, in which she first publicly revealed her rape claims against the, then, president.
Her lawyer, Shawn Crowley, said in his opening statement: "Filled with fear and shame, she kept silent for decades. Eventually, though, silence became impossible."
This latest trial comes a month after he pleaded not guilty in an unrelated criminal case regarding hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels during his presidential campaign.
Regardless of the outcome of the case brought about by Ms Carroll, Trump is not in danger of jail time, as it's a civil case - instead Ms Carroll is seeking an unspecified amount of money in damages and retraction of statements by Trump she claims were defamatory.
Though Trump would not face jail time, as it's a civil case, if Ms Carroll's claims are upheld then it would be the first time the controversial businessman and politician has had sexual assault claims against him upheld following more than two dozen similar allegations against him.
The jury is made up of six men and three women, ranging in age from 26 to 66. They include a janitor, physical therapist, and people who work in security, health care collections, a library and a high school among other areas.
Jurors are also expected to hear from two other women who say they were sexually assaulted by the former president.
The infamous 2005 'Access Hollywood' video in which Trump can be heard asserting that celebrities can grab women sexually without asking is also set to be seen by jurors.
Given that the claims are around 30 years old, Ms Carroll's allegations would normally be too old to bring to court, with the statute of limitations having expired. However, in November New York brought in a law allowing for suits over decades-old sexual abuse claims to be filed within a one-year period.
