Trump may not appear at his upcoming trial in NYC due to ‘logistical burdens,’ attorney says
The trial in a case brought by E. Jean Carroll is scheduled to begin Tuesday.
If former President Donald Trump declines to attend his trial next week, which charges him with slandering and hitting writer E. Jean Carroll, his attorney wants the jury to know that New York City’s onus is on it would spare to protect him.
Trump “wants to appear in court,” defense attorney Joe Tacopina said in a pretrial Wednesday, but asked the court to brief the jury on the “logistical burdens associated with his courtroom appearance.”
A lawyer for Carroll rebuked the motion, writing in a separate letter that “the notion that Mr. Trump would not appear as some sort of favor to the City of New York — and that the jury should be instructed so much — taxes the credulity of the.” gullible.”
Another Carroll attorney, Roberta Kaplan, pointed out that Trump has recently attended events across the country, including an Ultimate Fighting Championship event, a National Rifle Association meeting, and testifying at another civil proceeding.
“On Monday he announced that he had a campaign event scheduled for next Thursday, April 27th in New Hampshire — in other words, mid-trial in this case,” Kaplan said. “If Mr. Trump can find a way to attend wrestling championships, political conventions, civilian testimony and campaign events, then surely he could overcome the logistics of attending his own federal trial.”
The former president has until this Thursday to tell the court whether he is coming.
Former President Donald Trump arrives in court in New York on April 4, 2023.
Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images
In her lawsuit, filed in November, Carroll alleges Trump defamed her by calling her a liar when he denied her allegations that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. She added a battery charge under a recently passed New York law that allows adult sex abuse survivors to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations.
A judge last week dismissed Trump’s attempt to delay the start of the trial, which is scheduled to begin in New York on Tuesday.
Trump has repeatedly denied Carroll’s allegations.
