Skip to main content
Sep 15, 2021 - Politics & Policy

Judge denies Trump's request to delay defamation suit

headshot
Photo of Donald Trump on the left and E. Jean Carroll on the right

A defamation suit accusing former President Trump of rape will move forward as planned, a federal judge said Wednesday.

Why it matters: E. Jean Carroll sued Trump for defamation after he branded her a liar for publicly alleging that he raped her in the mid-1990s. Trump's legal team had requested that the judge delay the suit while an appeals court determines whether the United States can be substituted as the defendant in the case.

  • The Justice Department argues that Trump cannot be held personally liable for "crude and disrespectful" comments about Carroll since he was president at the time.
  • U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan did not explain the reasoning behind his decision.

What they're saying: In response to the decision, Carroll tweeted that she is "counting the very moments till November when [her lawyers] deliver BLISTERING oral arguments against Trump and his DOJ law firm!"

  • The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What to watch: The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in November on whether the United States can replace Trump as the defendant in the lawsuit.

Go deeper