One of Donald Trump’s most significant obstacles in his court cases has been the judges that have been assigned to these cases.
In all but one case, Trump has drawn a hostile judge with Democrat ties, including the E. Jean Carroll case.
To that point, Judge Kaplan has ruled in favor of a motion filed by E. Jean Carroll’s attorneys to block Trump from referencing arguments regarding Carroll’s rape claims in the second defamation case.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued his ruling on Saturday night for the motion filed by Carroll’s legal team.
Kaplan’s ruling prohibited Trump’s legal team from “offering any evidence, conducting any examination, or making any argument” that had to do with the first defamation case.
Kaplan added, “Whether Mr. Trump forcibly and without Ms. Carroll’s consent penetrated her vagina with his fingers—as the Carroll II jury and the Court both found—or also with his penis has nothing to do with injury inflicted on her by the defamatory statements.”
This is one in a string of defeats that Trump has suffered from during this case, the most recent being a denial to delay the case so Trump’s attorneys could consider other options.
Trump has and continues to deny the allegations made by Carroll, addressing them again this weekend at an Iowa rally, where he called out Kaplan as a “radical Democrat” and said the allegations were “all made up.”
Trump lost the first defamation case, with Carroll being awarded $5 million in the judgment.
After that judgment was announced, Trump went on Truth Social and trashed Carroll again, with the author immediately stating that she believed Trump opened himself up to a second defamation suit.
Once the second suit was filed, Trump again tried to invoke presidential immunity, but he lost his appeal in December, citing that Trump had waited too long to raise the defense.
In addition to the Carroll case, Trump is also litigating a civil suit brought by Attorney General Letitia James and four federal cases with nearly 100 charges.
Trump is expected to lose the James civil suit, with his best chances for winning the case being on appeal. James has actually upped her request from $250 million to $370 million in the New York fraud case.
