Judge orders E. Jean Carroll jurors to use assumed names and not tell family about service

With writer E. Jean Carroll's defamation trial against former President Donald Trump now underway, U.S. District Judge Lewis F. Kaplan is taking the security of jurors seriously.

Politico legal reporter Erica Orden tweeted Tuesday that Kaplan instructed his jury that it was to be an "anonymous jury," meaning no one — other jurors, reporters, attorneys and even Kaplan — would know their names.

He also suggested to members of the jury that they refer to each other using assumed names, and laid out highly detailed instructions for their safe transportation to and from the courtroom each day.

"The jurors will be transported to court each day by gathering at certain meeting spots, from where they will be driven to court and brought in via underground garage, Kaplan says. He also instructed jurors not tell anyone, including family, that they are serving on this case," Orden wrote.

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Kaplan's insistence on anonymity and security for jurors may be out of an abundance of caution given the former president's behavior in his New York civil fraud trial. Trump repeatedly attacked Allison Greenfield — a law clerk for Judge Arthur Engoron – and at one point published a link to her personal Instagram account, which led to both Greenfield and Engoron getting "inundated" with death threats from Trump supporters.

The deluge of threats resulted in Engoron imposing a gag order on the ex-president aimed at preventing him from attacking court staff, though Engoron exempted himself and New York Attorney General Letitia James from that order.

This week's defamation trial will only be to determine how much Trump will be on the hook to pay Carroll, who is asking for $10 million in damages. During the jury selection process, Kaplan asked prospective jurors whether they understood that Trump was already ruled to have been liable for both sexual abuse and defamation with actual malice, and all agreed.

Orden tweeted that several potential jury members were eventually excused after saying they agreed with Trump's assertions that the 2020 election was unfairly stolen from him, and that he had been treated "unfairly" in previous court proceedings.