Judge urged to reject Trump’s attempt to postpone rape trial – KGET 17

NEW YORK (AP) – The lawyer for a columnist who says former President Donald Trump raped her more than a quarter-century ago in a Manhattan department store dressing room urged a New York judge on Wednesday to deny his request to delay this month’s civil trial because of publicity about the allegations in his case. criminal case.

Attorney Roberta Kaplan said in a letter to the trial judge that it was “somewhat perverse” for Trump to argue that the trial must be postponed because of publicity when “so much of the publicity he is complaining about was fueled by his own inflammatory statements.”

Trump’s lawyer on Tuesday asked for a one-month delay in the April 25 start of the trial on rape charges against E. Jean Carroll.

Trump has repeatedly denied raping Carroll or ever meeting her at a department store in 1996. Carroll first went public with her claims in a 2019 book.

Kaplan accused Trump of using delay tactics to try to delay the civil trial resulting from the November lawsuit. A temporary state law that took effect last year allows adult rape victims to sue their abusers, even if the assaults happened decades ago.

Judge Louis A. Kaplan ordered both sides to notify him by April 20 if they will be absent for any part of the trial. Carroll plans to attend the entire trial. Trump’s lawyers haven’t said yet.

Last week, Trump pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment alleging that he falsified internal business records at a private company to cover up an attempt to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election. The indictment alleges that the former president did this by burying allegations of extramarital affairs through secret payments to women who filed claims against him.