President Trump’s personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz filed court papers Tuesday arguing that a pending legal demand brought forth by E. Jean Ca...
President Trump’s personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz filed court papers Tuesday arguing that a pending legal demand brought forth by E. Jean Carroll, a long-time advice columnist for the French fashion magazine Elle, should not proceed until the courts have decided how to handle a separate but legally similar defamation suit against him.
According to the New York Post, Kasowitz has argued that Carroll’s defamation suit should wait until the Court of Appeals determines whether Summer Zervos, a former “Apprentice” contestant who claims Trump groped her – and then defamed her by calling her a liar – has constitutional grounds to move forward with state cases against a sitting president.
“If President Trump is successful on that appeal, this Court would be without jurisdiction to hear this action while President Trump is in office, and that threshold issue should be decided in the Court of Appeals before this action proceeds,” Kasowitz wrote, according to court filings reviewed by the news agency.
Kasowitz also argued that proceeding with a defamation suit against Trump is counter to the public interest, due to the “burdensome” nature of keeping up with the court case while serving as chief executive of the country, reports the news agency.
Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll, has called Trump’s move to halt the suit predictable: “It’s hardly a surprise that Trump is seeking to stop this lawsuit. The Court has rejected his previous attempts to avoid discovery,” reports the Post.
As the Daily Wire previously reported, E. Jean Carroll has demanded Trump submit to a DNA test as part of an effort to prove Trump raped her in a dressing room at a high-end department store in the 1990s. The DNA analysis, Carroll says, would support her belief that Trump’s skin cells may still be on the dress she was wearing during the alleged attack.
After the encounter, Carroll claims she placed the dress inside her closet, “unlaundered,” and only wore it once more for a photoshoot when she came forward with her allegation in mid-2019.
According to the Associated Press, a lab test has determined that skin cells of at least four people were found on the dress, but that the DNA of three of the samples matched people who participated in the photoshoot. Carroll believes the remaining sample, which the lab says originates from a male, could belong to the president.
Soon after Carroll’s allegation was made public, Trump denied the claim at length in a statement to White House reporters — a statement that prompted Carroll to file the defamation suit currently stalled at the Court of Appeals.
“I’ve never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book — that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section,” said Trump, referring to the excerpt from Carroll’s then-upcoming book, “What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal.”
“Shame on those who make up false stories of assault to get publicity for themselves, or sell a book, or carry out a political agenda — like Julie Swetnick who falsely accused Justice Brett Kavanaugh,” continued Trump. “False accusations diminish the severity of real assault. All should condemn false accusations and any actual assault in the strongest possible terms.”
Carroll has demanded Trump retract his statements, but she has not announced how much money she is seeking in damages.
No comments