Donald Trump has requested a mistrial in a civil case where the writer E. Jean Carroll is accusing him of rape and defamation, according to a letter from the former US president.
In a letter filed on Monday in Manhattan federal court, Mr Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina cited several alleged errors by the judge, including that he mischaracterised the evidence in Carroll’s favour and interfered with his ability to defend Mr Trump.
Mr Tacopina said he should have been allowed to question Carroll about why she did not seek security camera footage of the alleged rape, and that the judge impeded his ability to question her on why she did not go to the police.
Mr Trump has consistently maintained the alleged rape never happened.
Lawyers for Carroll did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The trial is expected to resume later on Monday.
Mr Trump is in Scotland to visit his golf courses.
The allegations
Carroll alleges Mr Trump raped her in the dressing room of a department store has taken the stand in her battery and defamation lawsuit.
The former magazine columnist testified in chilling detail on Wednesday (local time) about the alleged assault 30 years ago in New York.
She told jurors at a civil trial that the former US president sexually assaulted her and defamed her by lying about it.
“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he lied and said it didn’t happen,” Carroll said in the Manhattan Federal Court.
“He lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m here to try and get my life back.”
Carroll, 79, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, is seeking unspecified damages from Mr Trump, 76, who leads the Republican field in the 2024 presidential campaign.
She is suing over an alleged encounter in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in late 1995 or early 1996, where she says Mr Trump raped her until she was able to flee.
Carroll is suing Mr Trump for defamation after he denied her rape claim in an October post on his Truth Social media platform, saying he had not known her, that she was not his “type”, and that she made up the claim to sell her memoir.
She is also suing under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which lets adults sue their alleged abusers long after statutes of limitations have run out.
-Reuters
