E. Jean Carroll (left) and former President Donald Trump (right).
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A judge denied Donald Trump's bid to delay E. Jean Carroll's rape trial because of his indictment.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan expressed concern the request was "another delay tactic" by the former president.
The battery and defamation trial is scheduled to start April 25 in Manhattan federal court.
A judge has turned down former President Donald Trump's request to delay E. Jean Carroll's rape and defamation case to allow the "media frenzy" surrounding his recent indictment to die down.
US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said some of the so-called media frenzy had been caused by Trump himself.
"Mr. Trump's assertion that the media coverage of his indictment and arraignment was so overwhelming that a 'cooling off' period is needed before selecting a jury in this case, and that it would be effective, is unproven and speculative, not to mention illogical," Kaplan wrote in a Monday order. "There was, of course, a great deal of media coverage — some of it invited and, indeed, provoked by Mr. Trump."
"It does not sit well for Mr. Trump to promote pretrial publicity and then claim that coverage that he promoted was prejudicial to him and should be taken into account as supporting a further delay," he wrote.
Kaplan ordered that Carroll's trial against Trump will proceed on schedule, starting April 25 in Manhattan federal court.
Carroll has accused Trump of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman changing room in the mid-1990s and says he defamed her when he loudly denied her allegation when she went public with the claim during his third year in the White House. Trump has denied all of her allegations.
Last week, Trump's lawyers made two last-minute requests to delay the trial a month, including a request to reopen discovery so that they could probe LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman's financial support of the lawsuit. The judge allowed a brief reopening of discovery but denied Trump's request to delay the trial.
The other request was for a one-month "cooling off" period to allow the "media frenzy" surrounding Trump's recent indictment in New York over alleged hush money payments to die down.
Judge Kaplan said Monday he wasn't convinced such a "cooling off" period is needed or "that it would be effective" in insuring Trump receives his right to a fair trial. Trump's lawyers expressed specific concerns over being able to impanel a jury that wouldn't be tainted by the news of Trump's indictment.
Kaplan also voiced concern that the "request to adjourn the trial is another delay tactic by Mr. Trump," in his litigation with Carroll, which has spanned more than three years.
Carroll "is now over 79 years of age and is entitled to her day in court just as both parties are entitled to a fair trial," Kaplan wrote.
"In consideration of the ages of both parties and extensive pretrial litigation ... it would not be in the interest of justice to permit further delay absent a strong justification," Kaplan added.
Joe Tacopina, an attorney for Trump, and Robbie Kaplan, an attorney for Carroll, both declined to comment Monday.
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