Judge: Trump Can’t Argue He Didn’t Rape Columnist

The Associated Press reports:

A judge late Saturday said former President Donald Trump’s lawyers can’t present legal arguments to a jury assessing damages at a defamation trial on a jury’s conclusion last year that he didn’t rape a columnist in the mid-1990s.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan made the determination in an order in advance of a Jan. 16 trial to determine defamation damages against Trump after a jury concluded Trump sexually abused columnist E. Jean Carroll but did not find evidence was sufficient to conclude that he raped her.

Trump, speaking in Iowa on Saturday as the Republican frontrunning presidential candidate in advance of a Jan. 15 primary, criticized the judge as a “radical Democrat” and mocked E. Jean Carroll for not screaming when she was attacked. “It was all made up,” he said.

Read the full article. Trump has already been hit with a $5 million judgment in Carroll’s first defamation suit. That money is presently in an escrow account while Trump appeals. He potentially faces another multi-million dollar judgment in Carroll’s second suit.

Judge blocks Trump lawyers from arguing about columnist’s rape claim at upcoming defamation trial https://t.co/fSBtNWSeUt

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 7, 2024