US judge denies Trump’s request for mistrial in rape accuser E. Jean Carroll’s civil trial
- Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina accused US District Judge Lewis Kaplan of being biased against the former US president
- Requests for mistrials – that also often form the basis for eventual appeals – are often long shots, including when they are based on the judge’s statements
E. Jean Carroll returned to the witness stand in her rape and defamation civil case against Donald Trump, after the judge denied a defense request for a mistrial.
Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina began cross-examining Carroll for a second day, hoping to show jurors inconsistencies or holes in her claims against the former US president.
Carroll, 79, has accused Trump, 76, of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in late 1995 or early 1996, and then undermining her credibility and career by lying about it online.
Her defamation claim concerns an October 2022 post on Trump’s Truth Social platform, where Trump called the former Elle magazine advice columnist’s case a “complete con job” and “a Hoax and a lie”.
The trial in Manhattan federal court began on April 25, and is in its fourth day.
In seeking a mistrial earlier, Tacopina wrote an 18-page letter early on Monday accusing US District Judge Lewis Kaplan of bias against Trump.