Trump demands mistrial in E. Jean Carroll case over deleted emails

Former President Donald Trump is alleging misconduct in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case against him and moving for a mistrial, CNN reported Friday.

The complaint, brought by his attorney Alina Habba, concerns emails that Carroll testified threatened her life, but that she deleted — which Habba claimed in court was against the law. Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected her claim.

Habba, however, "reiterated the request" in a letter to Kaplan, reported CNN, "and said without the records there is no way to prove when the threats occurred.

"Trump has argued that Carroll immediately began receiving negative messages after an excerpt of Carroll’s book containing the assault allegations was published on New York Magazine’s website – hours before Trump issued his first statement. His attorneys argued Trump shouldn’t be held responsible for what other people did."

“Plaintiff’s entire claim for emotional harm is undermined because it would show that Plaintiff was receiving death threats before President Trump ever spoke about her,” wrote Habba, saying that because the emails were deleted, the judge shouldn't allow damages to be based on the idea that Carroll received death threats.

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Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a New York City department store in the late 1990s.

A jury already found Trump liable for sexual abuse, and for defamation after he claimed that he had no idea who she was and that she was lying to advance her career.

The ongoing trial relates to separate defamatory comments involving the same attack. The judge has already ruled they are defamatory and the trial is about assessing damages.