Trump to be deposed next month in E. Jean Carroll defamation suit

Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to be deposed on Oct. 19 in the defamation lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, an author who has alleged he raped her in the mid-1990s, according to a letter from her attorney filed in federal court Friday.

The big picture: Trump's team sought to put the defamation case on hold earlier this week as a court determines the ongoing question of whether the U.S. government could take his place as defendant since he was president when he labeled Carroll a liar following her public accusation, the Guardian reports.

• Carroll's team requested Trump be deposed so he could be questioned under oath.
• Separately, Trump was given an out this week on backing up his claims about the FBI's inventory after the August search of his Mar-a-Lago property.

What they're saying: "He should not be permitted to assert at the last minute that he is entitled to avoid a deposition because it remains on appeal," Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan wrote in the letter.

• "It could hardly be clearer that defendant hopes to ‘run out the clock’ until he is elected president again," Kaplan said.

The other side: Last week, Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, asked the judge to reject the request for a deposition and said it would be "extraordinarily prejudicial" to Trump.

Catch up quick: Trump has maintained that he did not rape Carroll.

• Carroll sued him for defamation in 2019 after he called her a liar.
• Trump, who faced a number of sexual misconduct allegations during his 2016 campaign, lost his bid to countersue earlier this year.

What's next: In addition to the defamation case, Carroll also plans to sue Trump for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress "on the earliest possible date," which is Nov. 24, Axios' Shawna Chen reports.

• Kaplan asked the court to consolidate Carroll's defamation case with her expected sexual misconduct suit.

A representative for Trump did not immediately respond to Axios' requests for comment.