E. Jean Carroll and Donald Trump (Photo on left courtesy of E. Jean Carroll; photo on right via Emily Elconin/Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump can skip his trial in E. Jean Carroll’s rape case, but his attorneys cannot tell jurors it’s to spare New Yorkers the “alleged burdens” that would come with his presence in court, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.
“Mr. Trump is free to attend, to testify, or both. He is free also to do none of those things,” Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in a one-page order.
Trump has not confirmed whether or not he will attend but was simply seeking instruction mitigating the effect of his absence on the jury.
Trump’s attorney Joseph Tacopina asked the judge to instruct jurors that his client may not attend because doing so would have been a logistical burden on the city.
“While no litigant is required to appear at a civil trial, the absence of the defendant in this matter, by design, avoids the logistical burdens that his presence, as the former president, would cause the courthouse and New York City,” the proposed instruction read. “Accordingly, his presence is excused unless and until he is called by either party to testify.”
On Thursday, Judge Kaplan did not grant that instruction, but he said that Trump could make a similar request later.
“In the meantime, there shall be no reference by counsel for Mr. Trump in the presence of the jury panel or the trial jury to Mr. Trump’s alleged desire to testify or to the burdens that any absence on his part allegedly might spare, or might have spared, the Court or the City of New York,” Kaplan wrote.
On Tuesday, Trump will stand trial in Manhattan Federal Court in a civil lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, who claims that the then-real estate mogul sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s.
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan, who shares a surname with the judge but isn’t related to him, scoffed at Trump’s excuse for potentially skipping the trial.
“Over the past few weeks, Mr. Trump attended the Ultimate Fighting Championship event, spoke at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting, and appeared for a deposition in the New York Attorney General’s civil case against Mr. Trump, his adult children, and the Trump Organization,” Ms. Kaplan wrote in a recent filing.
In the middle of the first week of the trial, Trump is scheduled to appear at a campaign rally in New Hampshire next Thursday.
“If Mr. Trump can find a way to attend wrestling championships, political conventions, civil depositions, and campaign functions, then surely he could surmount the logistics of attending his own federal trial,” Carroll’s attorney argued.
Carroll already has vowed to attend the trial in full.
This is a developing story.
Read the ruling here.
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