Former President Donald Trump has requested a retrial on Tuesday in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case against him or that the judge who oversaw the case delay the $83.3 million penalty payment the jury handed him.
Trump’s defense team, Alina Habba and D. John Sauer, argued that a retrial is appropriate because Judge Lewis Kaplan banned Trump from presenting his complete defense during his testimony.
“This Court’s erroneous decision to dramatically limit the scope of President Trump’s testimony almost certainly influenced the jury’s verdict, and thus a new trial is warranted,” his attorneys wrote, per NBC News.
“President Trump’s testimony about his own state of mind is the most relevant and probative evidence on the issue of common-law malice, and he was uniquely positioned to address it,” his attorneys wrote in the filing, NBC News added. “By erroneously foreclosing any such testimony — and erroneously striking the one sentence of President Trump’s testimony on this point — the Court all but assured that the jury would make a baseless punitive-damages award.”
The former president initially requested Kaplan grant him a 30-day period following his decision on the post-trial motions. Carroll challenged this appeal, arguing that Trump has not shown any proof of his ability to make the payment.
Kaplan rejected Trump’s initial plea last month for a lower bond or postponement while requesting a response from Carroll’s legal team. Carroll’s attorneys have not made a comment regarding Trump’s request Tuesday, but in a filing last week, “Her attorneys argued that the reasoning in Trump’s request relief ‘boils down to nothing more than ‘trust me,’” according to ABC News.
In response, Trump’s defense argued that Carroll’s worries over Trump’s insufficient finances are inconsistent, noting that during the trial, her attorneys focused on Trump’s wealth to persuade the jury to grant a larger compensation:
“Plaintiff’s current position — that President Trump’s ability to satisfy a judgment of $83.3 million is in doubt — is ‘clearly inconsistent’ with her position barely one month ago that President Trump has $14 billion in assets and can thus easily satisfy an enormous punitive award,” ABC News added.
The judge is currently considering this request.