Trump Testimony in Defamation Case Delayed to After New Hampshire Primary

President Donald Trump comes out of the Oval Office from the White House on Sept. 16, 2019; E. Jean Carroll leaves following her trial at Manhattan Federal Court in New York on May 8, 2023. (Mandel Ngan; Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

NEW YORK—Former President Donald Trump was meant to testify on Monday in the defamation case brought against him by writer E. Jean Carroll, but the judge granted a delay after an attorney and juror raised COVID-19 concerns.

In a short entry by the court reporter, the trial is to be paused on Tuesday, Jan. 23, and continued Wednesday, Jan. 24.

After a pause was discussed in court, defense attorneys raised concerns that President Trump’s rescheduled testimony may clash with the date of the New Hampshire primary.

“I ask that his testimony be Wednesday,” Ms. Habba told the judge.

Attorneys for the plaintiff objected. “We would like to get this trial over [with],” said Roberta Kaplan, legal counsel for Ms. Carroll.

The judge had declined to commit to a new schedule immediately, leaving the issue in limbo for some hours.

President Trump was present on Monday, and would have testified if not for the unexpected developments. The case has gained international attention, with foreign news media present in court.

Defense attorney Alina Habba told U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that she had visited relatives three days ago, and they had tested positive for COVID. While Ms. Habba tested negative in court on Monday, she said she wasn’t feeling well.

Judge Kaplan said in court that one juror had also headed home after feeling unwell on their way to court, and initially granted a one-day postponement. He reminded jurors of health procedures, and had sent them home before court began at 10 a.m. He added that his court had opened full swing during the pandemic and tried hundreds of cases.

Trump to Appeal

The defamation case was brought by Ms. Carroll in 2019, and the trial is meant to only deal with damages.

While President Trump was still in office, Ms. Carroll publicly accused him of sexually assaulting her in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s. He publicly denied the allegations and said he did not know Ms. Carroll, suggesting the accusations were part of a publicity stunt. This led to the defamation suit, and a countersuit by President Trump was dismissed.

Ms. Carroll later sued President Trump with allegations of “rape” when New York state passed legislation to allow sexual abuse cases to be brought outside the statute of limitations. Last May, a jury awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million and found President Trump liable for “sexual battery.”

After the decision, Ms. Carroll amended her defamation petition to ask for $10 million in damages. Judge Kaplan, presiding over both cases, issued a summary judgment finding President Trump liable for defamation because he said the facts were the same in both cases.

President Trump has said he will appeal both cases brought by Ms. Carroll.

No Delay for Funeral

Last week, the judge and defense clashed over another request for a modest delay.

Former First Lady Melania Trump’s mother, Amalija Knavs, died on Jan. 9 at age 78. The funeral was held Jan. 18, and President Trump’s attorneys had requested that the start of the trial be pushed back until after that date.

The judge refused, stating that the date of the trial had been set seven months ago. Judge Kaplan had previously rejected several motions to delay trial, highlighting the fact that the case had been brought in 2019 and delayed about three years already.

In messages on Truth Social and later during a press conference, President Trump criticized the judge for not instead pausing the trial one day so that he could attend both the funeral and the trial. The judge did, however, grant a delay for President Trump’s testimony until after the funeral.

“The first lady’s mother passed away, the funeral is tomorrow, and we would’ve assumed for a trial like this it’s not an emergency in terms of timing,” President Trump said.

He said he wanted to attend “100 percent” of the trial “because I saw what happened to the first one.”

President Trump explained that his attorneys had asked him not to attend the other trial with Ms. Carroll because it was a “demeaning” event and “beneath” him. Afterward, he claimed the judge was “extraordinarily hostile” to the defense.

In a separate press conference, President Trump told reporters he wanted to attend as much of his other trials as possible, as they have become part of his campaign, and he wanted to “expose” the election interference against him.

“My legal issues, every one of them, every one, are all set up by crooked Joe Biden, every one of them,” he said.

“They’re doing it for election interference,” he said. “And in a way, I guess you can consider it part of the campaign. They are doing this. It’s never been done like this in this country.”