Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to appear in court to answer questions under oath as part of a defamation lawsuit filed by a former magazine columnist who accused Trump of raping her in the 1990s.
Trump’s scheduled deposition comes one week after a federal judge rejected the former president’s requests to delay the trial, ruling he “should not be able to run out the clock.” Trump is set to appear in court on Wednesday, according to CNN, although it’s unclear whether he’ll answer questions.
JUDGE RULES THAT TRUMP MUST SIT FOR DEPOSITION IN DEFAMATION LAWSUIT
The deposition is part of a yearslong lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, who sued Trump for defamation in 2019 after Trump denied claims he had raped the magazine columnist in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. Carroll filed the suit after Trump repeatedly denied the allegations, describing her as “not my type.”
Trump’s lawyers have argued that because he was the president at the time he made the comment, he should be considered a federal employee who was answering reporters’ questions. As such, his attorneys have argued the Department of Justice should be substituted as the defendant, effectively ending the lawsuit because the government cannot be sued for defamation.
A federal appeals court sided with Trump that he was a federal employee when he denied Carroll’s rape allegations last month. However, the court referred the matter to an appeals court in Washington, D.C., to determine whether Trump was acting within his scope of employment when he made the comments. The appeals court has not yet taken up the request, but if it rules in favor of Trump, the lawsuit could be dismissed entirely.
However, Trump’s legal troubles may not be over after that. Carroll has indicated she intends to file another lawsuit against the former president seeking damages for the rape itself under a new state law in New York that allows victims of sexual assault to sue their alleged attackers, even years after the incident took place.
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Trump’s lawyers have said they look forward to the former president’s deposition, noting they are prepared to disprove Carroll’s claims.
“We look forward to establishing on the record that this case is, and always has been, entirely without merit,” Alina Habba, attorney for Trump, told Politico.
