Clinton-appointed Judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday denied Trump’s motion for a mistrial in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case even though Carroll deleted evidence under subpoena.
Last month a 9-person jury ordered Trump to pay a total of $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll for statements he made defending himself against false rape accusations.
The Trump team argued that the evidence Carroll deleted proves that she was receiving threats before President Trump ever commented on her allegations.
Judge Kaplan defended Carroll and said Trump offered no evidence that he ever attempted to recover the deleted messages.
“Mr. Trump has offered no evidence that he ever even attempted to recover any of these messages through discovery or otherwise,” Kaplan said, according to NBC News. “In fact, he does not even argue that the messages in question have been permanently lost and are now unrecoverable. This failure alone was sufficient basis to deny the alternative relief he sought.”
Kaplan also said that even if Trump’s claims about E. Jean Carroll’s deleted messages are accurate, it’s still not sufficient to warrant relief.
“Even if it is accurate, it is far from sufficient to warrant relief,” Kaplan said in the 30-page decision on Wednesday.
President Trump appeared in court last month as E. Jean Carroll testified in a trial where the jury will decide how much Trump has to pay for his so-called ‘defamatory’ statements about her.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, a Clinton appointee, previously ruled that Trump is liable for defamatory statements he made about E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of rape.
In 2019, E. Jean Carroll alleged Donald Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s.
Trump has denied the allegations and called E. Jean Carroll a “whack job” who’s “not my type.”
Under cross-examination by Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba, E. Jean Carroll admitted she deleted emails under subpoena.
Judge Kaplan ran interference for Carroll.
Habba: You said you receive death threats daily – but you deleted then until trial? Explain what you mean.
Judge Kaplan: Explain what she means by what?
Habba: When did you stop deleting death threats?
Carroll: I had not received how many there were.— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 17, 2024
President Trump’s attorney Alina Habba asked Carroll if she received a subpoena.
“Yes,” Carroll replied before admitting she deleted emails.
Habba: So you have the death threats?
Carroll: I deleted them.
Habba: So you-
Carroll’s lawyer: Asked and answered.
Habba: This is a very important question
Carroll’s lawyer: I object to the commentary too— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 17, 2024
Carroll admitted to deleting emails under subpoena because she didn’t want to upset her lawyers.
Habba: Do you keep the supporting emails?
Carroll: Yes. I tend to delete questions that I know I won’t use. But I have an entire label for supportive messages.
Habba: Do you control your email?
Carroll: Yes.
Habba: So only you deleted them?
Carroll: Yes.— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 17, 2024
Judge Kaplan rushed to E. Jean Carroll’s defense after Alina Habba moved for a mistrial following Carroll’s admission to deleting massive amounts of evidence.
Trump’s team renewed its motion seeking a mistrial and once again Judge Kaplan sided with E. Jean Carroll.
This story originally appeared on TheGateWayPundit
