A federal judge on Tuesday placed limits on what Donald Trump and his lawyers can say during the former president’s trial for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, which is slated to start next week.
Trump will head to trial on Tuesday for comments he made in 2019, when he said Carroll accused him of raping her to promote her book. The presiding judge has already found Trump liable for defamation, and the trial is mostly about setting damages.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued an order Tuesday blocking Trump and his defense team from discussing Carroll’s attorney selection or the people backing her court fees.
The order bars the defendant and his team from making comments “concerning Ms. Carroll’s past romantic relationships, sexual disposition, and prior sexual experiences,” and says they may not dispute that Trump sexually abused Carroll or acted with actual malice when he made his remarks about her as president.
Kaplan issued a separate order over the weekend barring Trump from arguing that he didn’t rape Carroll.
Trump was taken to court by Carroll once already. In May, a jury unanimously found Trump liable for sexual abuse and battery against Carroll in the mid-1990s and for defaming her in 2022 when he denied the assault again post-presidency. Trump was ordered to pay her $5 million in damages.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The former president is also facing a gag order in special counsel Jack Smith’s case alleging he conspired to subvert the 2020 election, and he is appealing that order. He faces another gag order in his civil business fraud trial in New York, where he has been fined a total of $15,000 for twice violating the order that bars him from referring to court staff.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit declined to rehear Trump’s request for immunity from the trial on Monday. The move was Trump’s last shot short of the Supreme Court to hear his case for being granted presidential immunity over comments he made denying sexually assaulting Carroll.
Read Kaplan’s Tuesday order here:
Judge Kaplan bars Trump from criticizing Carroll in upcoming defamation trial by Kaelan Deese on Scribd
